Life of a Flower
by Crescent Fresh
Summary: Lily Evans, James Potter. Story of what Voldemort wanted from them and how they fell in love, with bits of Friendship, romances and fun! LJ, RC, SD! Read and review! Chapter 19 is up! Please review :) THanks
1. Prolouge

Fourteen-year-old Lily Evans took one last glance around her room to see if she left and spare parchment, any quills or anything at all that she would need for her fourth year at Hogwarts. She ran a hand through her wild red hair and sighed. Another year with the incredible, charming, witty, gorgeous and most of all, annoying best friend, James Potter.  
  
Standing at 6"2, (while Lily was a petite 5"4) the fifteen-year-old boy had messy charcoal-black hair and soft, deep pools of brown eyes. He was a Hogwarts prefect, (he'd owled Lily as soon as he received his Hogwarts letter) the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain and star chaser and every girl's dream boy. Whenever Lily and James would sit down to talk, some ditzy girl would bounce up and flirt to James. He had a rich life, owing to the fact that his father was the Minister of Magic and his mother was a top Auror for the Ministry. He was part of the most popular group in school, the Marauders. There were three other boys in the group, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.  
  
Lily had two other best friends, Dana Summers and Clara Bent, who were cousins and shared her dorm. The two other fourth year girls, Alice Montague and Hazel Kensington were both nasty to Lily, all because she was Muggle-born. Lily thought of all the bad things they had done to her through the years they'd been together. Alice, especially, liked James and was very envious of Lily, being the Marauder's best friend and all. She wondered how two nasty girls got sorted into Gryffindor.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted when her parents called her down to leave for King's Cross.  
  
*~*  
  
"Goodbye, Lily dear," Mrs. Evans sniffed, "Send us lots of owls." Her father's face was unreadable, he always hated goodbyes.  
  
"Bye, Pumpkin. Be a good girl," Mr. Evans hugged his younger daughter. They waved to each other as Lily boarded the scarlet steam engine. She quickly searched for the compartment where her friends were. Lily looked through a window and saw Dana and Clara chatting merrily. She opened the door with a bang; Clara and Dana looked up from a new issue of Witch Weekly (Their mums both wrote for the magazine).  
  
"Hi Lily!" Dana jumped up to hug her friend. Lily eagerly squeezed her friend.  
  
"Lil! What d'you reckon we should do to those blonde bimbos who're disgusting excuses for Gryffindors this year?" Clara excitedly asked Lily.  
  
The redhead chuckled. "I don't know, we'll have plenty of time for that through the year!"  
  
After settling down, Lily looked up at her friends and said, "What do you want to do?"  
  
Dana took out a deck of cards. "How about Exploding Snap?" After nodding their agreements, the three friends set up the deck. Before they even shuffled the cards, who else but the Marauders barged in.  
  
"Lily! How simply splendid to see you, old girl! How're you?" Sirius Black seized one of her hands and began shaking it profusely. Peter, Remus and James chuckled.  
  
"Hi, Lily Flower," a deep voice she knew too well came.  
  
She blushed at the nickname only James used.  
  
Peter pushed his way through James and Remus and squeaked out in his high voice, "Lily! I missed you!" They all burst into laughter because, just then, the short boy stumbled and fell on Lily.  
  
"Ouch!"  
  
"Sorry Lily!"  
  
"Geroff! I can't breathe!"  
  
When the pudgy boy finally managed to get up off her, Lily straightened her Muggle clothes and sat down.  
  
"What d'you wanna do before we reach the castle?" Dana asked, looking around at the compartment, after a couple of hours of talking about their summers and sharing stories.  
  
Sirius flashed his famous mischievous grin. "How 'bout Truth or Dare?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Someone conjure up the bottle." (Clara, taking control quickly.)  
  
"Fine with me, Peter?"  
  
"Will it hurt?" At this pathetic question, the group, except Peter, who'd turned red, laughed. (a/n: Sorry, I just HATE that rat!)  
  
After they all settled down on the carpet and James brought an old bottle of Firewhisky with him, they started the game.  
  
"I get to spin! I wanna spin! Spin, me!" Sirius screamed out like a four- year-old. They all sighed and knew that Sirius wouldn't shut up unless he got what he wanted.  
  
He twirled the green bottle around and it landed on Clara. He grinned maliciously "Truth or dare, Clarakins?"  
  
"Dare, Siri. And don't call me Clarakins," the blonde added indignantly. The rest of them huddled together and after a few moments, they emerged with smiles on their faces.  
  
"Clara," Remus announced, "Your dare is to go in Snape's compartment," he smirked at the look of horror on her face, "And snog him senseless."  
  
Clara's eyes, if possible, went wider. She looked like a person who'd just been sentenced to a life term in Azkaban.  
  
"A dare's a dare, Clara, m'dear," Dana topped off.  
  
They frog-marched the furiously refusing girl to the Slytherin's compartment and closed the door. They watched through the windows.  
  
Snape looked up from whatever he, Malfoy, Parkinson and Goyle were doing. "What do you want, Bent?"  
  
Before either knew what she was doing, the Gryffindor took his face in her hands and covered his lips with hers. As they pulled apart, a roar of laughter rang through out the train corridor. Clara stalked out wordlessly and continued to their compartment, her friends close behind.  
  
"That was, er, passionate, should I say," James remarked, and earned himself a stinging cheek from Clara.  
  
They spun the bottle again and it landed on Lily. "Truth or dare, Lily Flower?" James asked.  
  
She thought for a moment and answered, "Truth."  
  
Dana pushed the others out of the way and took Lily's hands in hers. "Who do you fancy?" 


	2. Before the Feast

Lily's face turned an interesting shade of crimson, clashing violently with her hair. She opened her mouth to say something but she was fortunately saved from answering as the witch with the food cart rolled by.  
  
"Hello, dears. Would you like anything off the cart?" She was quite a pretty woman, about in her twenties, with brown hair and black eyes that danced with laughter. When she spoke, she smiled at them, her dimples showing.  
  
Sirius, being himself answered jokingly, "Not really. I'd rather have you."  
  
She blushed and said, "Really, dears, would you want anything?" The teenagers gave their orders and carried their food (Chocolate Frogs, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Bertie Bott's every Flavor Beans, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Ice Mice, Cockroach Clusters and finally, some Fizzing Whizbees), back to the compartment.  
  
Munching on a Chocolate Frog, James turned to the small redhead, who was sitting beside him. "Lily Flower, you didn't answer your question. Who do you fancy?" Seeing her flushed face he decided to go on. "C'mon, Lily Flower! Tell us before- Oh, look! I got Agrippa!"  
  
After the lot crowded around to get a look at the rare card, Remus pointed out the question of Lily which hadn't been answered yet.  
  
"Do tell us, Lily! Who is it, already? I'm, like, dying to, like, know!!" Sirius bounced up and down, saying this in a mocking girl's voice.  
  
Seeing she was cornered, Lily made one last attempt to escape answering it: Quidditch. Fortunately for her, she saw James' very battered copy of Quidditch Through the Ages peeking from under his trunk lid.  
  
She cried out desperately, "Quidditch! Are we gonna win this year or what?"  
  
That seemed to snap up the boys' attention. The question lay forgotten as their conversation turned to the flying sport.  
  
Clara and Dana tried to look menacingly at her, hands on their hips. "You may avoid the question but you'll have to answer it sooner or later!" Dana wagged a finger at Lily. They all burst out laughing because she sounded so much like Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Oy, did you hear? Patricia Flank's on the team this year! You know, she looks pretty good, so we could use her as a distraction!"  
  
"Yeah, nice one, Moony!"  
  
"Thanks, Padfoot. How about you, James? Who'd you reckon'll be captain, seeing as Sean Finnigan left last year?" "Yeah, Prongs! Don't you want to be captain? You deserve it after all the games you've won for Gryffindor."  
  
"Really, Wormtail? You guys think so?"  
  
Lily caught bits of their conversation. She wasn't much of a Quidditch fan and so were her friends so they dozed off.  
  
~*~  
  
When she was aroused from her sleep, the sky out the window was darkening quickly. Lily took a glance at the silent compartment and at her slumbering friends. Dana's head rested on the crook of Sirius' shoulder and his arm was around her arms. Remus had Clara in his lap and his arms were wrapped around her body. Peter was snoring softly, curled up in a tight little ball. She yawned, stretched her arms and rubbed her eyes.  
  
"What did you dream of, Lily Flower?" She jumped at the voice which came from beside her. James was the only one awake besides herself.  
  
Lily smiled at him, "Nothing, no dreams." The train gave a sudden lurch and when Lily recovered from bumping her head on the wall, she found herself on James' lap. Her friends were slowly waking up, grumbling.  
  
She grinned at the look on Remus and Clara's faces as they sprang away from each other. Sirius withdrew his arm as I he touched hot coal and Dana lifted her head quickly. Peter was still asleep and curled into an ever tighter ball.  
  
An awkward silence took place among them as they all grinned sheepishly at each other. Sirius broke the silence as he kidded, "Seems like Lily here has found a nice sleeping place!"  
  
Lily looked down and found that she was still on James' lap. She leapt of and said amidst the giggles, "I wouldn't be so smart if I were you Sirius," she gave him a sly grin, "AT least, I didn't have my arm around a certain girl a while ago!"  
  
He turned red. Clara asked, "How many more hours 'til we're due at the castle?"  
  
James looked at his watch. "About fifteen more minutes or so. Let's just talk."  
  
IN no time at all, the train pulled up at Hogsmeade. Carriages were waiting to take the students to Hogwarts. James, Lily, Sirius and Dana got in one. Lily and James ended up sitting together, squashed.  
  
When they reached the magnificent castle, Lily's breath stopped short. Five years of Hogwarts still couldn't take away the wonder of seeing the castle all lit up like that, glowing in the night. James grinned at his friend's awe-filled face and said, "Still takes your breathy away, huh, Lily Flower?"  
  
She smiled stupidly back at him and to her surprise, he linked arms with her and they set off for through the pathway leading to Hogwarts' main doors.  
  
"Hello James, Lily! Nice to see you're back again!" Sir Nicholas de Mimsy- Porpington or Nearly Headless Nick, as everyone called him, waved to the pair.  
  
They waved back and made their way through the oak door to get in the Great Hall. As soon as James came into view, a large group of girls swarmed over to Lily and James. The disgustedly brushed her away and she felt a pang. Her face grew very hot and she was about to yell at the blonde Hufflepuff for pushing her away when James saw her.  
  
Not wanting Lily's redheaded temper to cause a scene (as he had bad experiences with her hot temper), he yelled over the commotion, "I'll meet you in Gryffindor table. Save me a sit beside you, okay, Lily Flower?"  
  
Her anger left as soon as it had come. She gave him a small smile and with a wave, she ignored the scowls sent her way by James' admirers. A particularly nasty Hufflepuff whispered before she could slip away to her House table, "Stay away from him, you little freak. He's mine. And you're just an ugly geek everybody ignores."  
  
Lily couldn't help but feel bad. She felt as if part of it were true. Actually, it was but not really. Her red hair was wild, but only a little. It was wavy and curled at the bottom. She always hid her green eyes behind thick glasses, which in actuality, didn't need. She just wore them for fun. She was short, too.  
  
Hot tears sprang to her eyes and she felt embarrassed. She sat down with the rest of her friends, her usually held-up-high head down. James caught up a few minutes later, out of breath, and sat beside Lily.  
  
Just at that moment, before James could ask what was wrong with her, Professor McGonagall came leading the new, nervous-looking first years to be Sorted. Professor Flitwick came through a door at the side of the Great Hall, carrying a stool and a tattered looking wizard's hat. He placed it in front of the teacher's table.  
  
A rip tore through the bottom of the hat-  
  
Once again, I'm here to judge the newcomers of our school |So, come on up, and put me on, sit on the three-legged stool| I'll put you in different Houses, depending on how you act| I'm the greatest judge, don't doubt me, and that is one pure fact| You could be in fair Hufflepuff, where to your friends you are so true| Or Ravenclaw, if you're intelligent, this House is just for you| Gryffindor, on the other hand, where go the most courageous| Hence Slytherin, go all the proud and most terribly ambitious| Put me on, no worries here, your house will suit you fine!| Where to put you will all be revealed in just a few minutes' time!|  
  
The hall clapped as the hat bowed to the four tables. McGonagall droned on, calling out a name, and a nervous student would make the walk to the hat and would run to whichever House the Sorting Hat put them in. Lily didn't pay much attention to the Sorting, her mind was on the comment of the Hufflepuff girl.  
  
She snapped out of her torpor as Professor Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat to make some announcements. 


	3. The Dream

Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat loudly. "Welcome back to Hogwarts! Some announcements to be made. Our new Head Boy, Arthur Weasley," a red-haired boy stood up from Gryffindor table and bowed, "And our new Head Girl, Molly Weas- I mean, Molly Winchester," a red-haired girl stood up from Gryffindor table again, "Our new fifth prefects, please stand up as soon as I call your names. For Ravenclaw, Andrew Boot and Seraphina Arson. Hufflepuff, Dean McMillan and Clarissa Dunt. Slytherin, Severus Snape and Perpetua Drindone. And last but not the least, Gryffindor, James Potter and Alexia Cruin. Mr. Pringle, here," Dumbledore gestured to a burly looking man in the side. He continued. "Mr. Pringle, our caretaker, has asked me to remind you that Fizzing Whizbees are only allowed in Hogsmeade from now on and Dungbombs are strictly forbidden in the dungeons, since our resident manticore grew a little, er, apprehensive the last time one was set off. Before the feast, three words I say to you: Lau dati dominum!"  
  
The Headmaster clapped twice and suddenly all the awaited food appeared. Chicken legs, lamb chops, steaks, bread rolls, butter, cheese, and corn were sent up from the kitchens. Sirius wasted no time in getting a few of each, his face being stuffed by his two hands. All Lily's friends were digging in except her. She thought she was fat and she had to go on a diet.  
  
Dana noticed she wasn't eating. "Lils, aren't you going to eat?" She shook her head no.  
  
James added in, "Why not? The food's great!" She just looked down at her hands, thinking, 'If I'm just an ugly geek, how will James ever learn to love me?'  
  
On her other side sat Alice, unfortunately. "So, someone finally put you, little Mudblood, in your place." Lily shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Alice had heard what the Hufflepuff said and not only that, she was going to rub it in.  
  
"You're just an ugly fat geek who no one will ever like. James'll never, ever fall for someone like you. Try as you might to fix yourself up, you'll always end up looking like what you are: a fat Mudblood!"  
  
She'd had enough. "Stop it, okay! Why don't you just go and reapply your make-up or something, just don't bother me!"  
  
The hall turned to look at her. Lily flushed and muttered a "Sorry" and sat down. James leaned over.  
  
"What was THAT about, Lily Flower?"  
  
She shook her head. "Don't mind it. She was just, uh, banging her knee against mine?" It was more of a question than a statement.  
  
A queer expression lit up James' handsome features, his brown eyes filled with concern, and he stared at her for awhile before resuming his eating, as if trying to read her.  
  
Half an hour passed and soon, all the students were sleepy, tired and full. Dumbledore stood up again, this time to end the feast.  
  
"I trust you're all warmed up? Prefects, lead your Houses to their dorms and will the Head students please stay for a while to discuss their duties with me? Thank you and have a good night's sleep!"  
  
James went to the front, seeing he was a prefect, to take Gryffindor to their Tower. As they passed the staircases, the paintings acknowledged them.  
  
"Nice to have you back, eh?" A painting of a large, friendly-looking man said heartily.  
  
"Oh, Tristan, look! The students are here again!" A maiden whispered loudly to her friend.  
  
"Finally, it won't be so boring around here anymore," sighed another.  
  
They reached the Fat Lady's painting on the Seventh Floor and a sixth year prefect gave the password. ("Flibberty gibbet!")  
  
Lily and her friends sank down to the comfy sofas in front of the fireplace to have talk before going to bed.  
  
"D'you reckon we'll have a Yule Ball this year?" Dana asked.  
  
Remus answered, "We didn't have one last year, right? It's got to be this year, as we have one every other year."  
  
James joined in on the conversation. "Who're you bringing, you lot?"  
  
"I think I'll go with Michael Davies, since he asked me out to two Hogsmeade weekends last year," Clara said. Remus scowled at this.  
  
"How about Penny Minstrel from Ravenclaw, she's nice to me and fun to talk to," Remus added smugly and nearly smirked at Clara's expression.  
  
"I don't know who to bring, but I'll make sure she's one helluva kisser!" Sirius said.  
  
Peter chose this moment to go off to bed, muttering a lame excuse about being very exhausted. (a/n: the nasty little bugger!)  
  
James noticed Lily, who was off in her own dream world. "Hey, Lily Flower. How about you, who are you going to bring?" She snapped out of her subconscious state.  
  
"Um, I'm not sure, there's always Clark Boot, from Ravenclaw, you know? The blonde with the blue eyes?"  
  
James looked affronted. "That idiot? Don't you remember what he did during our last match? That dirty git cheated just so Carl Thomas wouldn't score! Result: Carl ended up with a dislocated shoulder!" They were all surprise at James' outburst. "Relax, Jamesie m'boy! Lily'll go with someone else then, won't you Lils?" Sirius made as if to calm down a frightened horse.  
  
Lily nodded her head vigorously. "Don't worry, James. I'll look for someone else."  
  
Dana said thoughtfully, "Maybe I could go with Ian Brocklehurst. He's okay I guess. What do you think, Clara, Lily? Is he good enough?" The girls laughed, as if they just shared a private joke.  
  
"What are you laughing at?" Sirius asked, grumpily. They just giggled more and Remus threw his hands up exasperatedly.  
  
"Women: we'll never figure them out."  
  
James sighed and agreed with Remus. "Au contraire, Remus. Au contraire." He glanced at his watch and announced, "Whoopty do! It's already a quarter to eleven. Let's get some sleep."  
  
The group bid each other good night and when they reached their respective dorms, they all fell on their beds, asleep, thinking the same thing: It's good to be home again.  
  
~*~  
  
Lily had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit her fluffy pillow on her four-poster. She sighed contentedly and went off to dreamland.  
  
"Lily! Take Harry and go! It's him! I'll hold him off-"  
  
Lily looked around in confusion. Where was she? Then, she glanced at the person who shouted at her. He looked so familiar. Messy black hair, brown eyes framed by glasses. JAMES! She tried to signal him, but found that she couldn't move. She couldn't speak either.  
  
High-pitched laughter filled the room, as the front door burst open  
  
"Lily, please, just go! I'll be all right! Take Harry, go!"  
  
She watched her older self cry.  
  
"No, James, I won't leave you-"  
  
The older James looked at her and shouted, "Lily, I love you. Go on! Take Harry!"  
  
Sobbing, her older version picked up a wailing bundle of blankets and ran up the stairs.  
  
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"  
  
A jet of green light filled the room she was previously in, and the dream Lily burst into a fresh wave of tears as she continued to run. She went in a room and locked it.  
  
The locked door opened. More high-pitched laughter.  
  
"Please! NO, have mercy! Not Harry, please, not Harry! Take me, kill me instead!"  
  
"Stand aside, you silly girl, stand aside NOW!"  
  
"No, please, have mercy! Not my baby! Not Harry! Take me, kill me instead!"  
  
"As you wish." The Dark Wizard raised his wand and roared the same words he used to kill James Potter. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"  
  
The dream ended, and at the exact same moment, two different students in Grffindor Tower woke up, gasping. 


	4. A Talk Over Hot Chocolate

DISCLAIMER: This is very, very late. I just remembered I had to do it. I don't own any Harry Potter characters that you recognize. Dana, Clara, and all the others you don't know are mine. All that you recognize belong to J.K. Rowling. Thank you.  
  
Lily woke up in a cold sweat, gasping for air. The dream. what did it mean? Why was James there? Who was Harry? Who killed them?  
  
In another part of Gryffindor Tower, in the fifth year boys' dormitory, James was trying to catch his breath after a horrible nightmare. Lily! Lily was there! Was she awake, too? Recalling this same dream? He decided to go down to the kitchens in his invisibility cloak to grab a cup of hot chocolate.  
  
Meanwhile, Lily went to sit in the common room. After putting on her slippers, she descended down the girl's staircase, into the common room, just in time to see the portrait swing close.  
  
"Now who could be up at this hour?" She said to herself. Concluding that it was just probably her eyes playing a trick on her, Lily sat down on the hearth rug, in front of the blazing fire.  
  
She started humming a soft tune, to lull her to sleep. But sleep wouldn't come, so she decided to recall some bad memories.  
  
There was that time when she was six, and a bully in her school chased her 'round the playground, and she was running out of breath, the bully was suddenly thrown backwards, giving Lily time to run away safely. The teacher had gotten mad at her, since her tormentor went home with a lot of bruises.  
  
Another time when she got her Hogwarts letter and Petunia didn't receive hers, she had gotten very jealous and started calling Lily a freak. Up until then, both sisters shared a special bond with each other, playing together, trying on make-up, helping with homework, gossiping, sharing favorite things. All that changed the day Lily found out she was a witch.  
  
The worst was when she was bitten by a kundor* during her second year, while she was in detention in the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. She'd felt a pain she had never experienced before. Madame Prinuella had been able to fix it, but the hangover lasted for about a month afterwards.  
  
Lily was about to doze off when the portrait swung open and a set of footsteps followed the sound. When she turned, no one was there.  
  
"ACHOO!"  
  
"Who's there? I heard you sneeze! I know you're there somewhere!" Lily spun around and flung her arms wildly about her. She touched an invisible material and quickly pulled it off.  
  
"James? Fancy seeing you here, like this. "  
  
In his boxers stood James Potter, with a cup of was that hot chocolate? in his hand. She breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back down on one of the armchairs.  
  
"Hi, Lily Flower. I couldn't sleep, I had a nightmare so I decided to sneak down to the kitchens to get some hot chocolate," he explained. "You're not looking too shabby yourself."  
  
She was wearing some jogging pants and a black tank top for pajamas. Lily nodded and asked, "Is that (pointing to the cloak which lay on the floor) an Invisibility Cloak? Where did you get one?"  
  
"My dad gave it to me. It was a family heirloom."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Do you want some hot chocolate? I could duplicate it for you."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"Duplicio! Here you go. So, why are you here? I told you my reason, what's yours?"  
  
"Same as you. Nightmare. I tried going back to sleep but I couldn't."  
  
"D'you want to talk about it?"  
  
"Well, I was in a room, watching my self and someone else." Lily avoided his eyes and decided not to tell him the truth.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"High-pitched cackles filled the room as the front door opened. This- this person with my older self said something like, 'Run, Lily. It's him, I'll hold him off!' and I didn't want to leave him."  
  
"Wait, did this person say something like, 'Take Harry and go! I'll be fine!'?"  
  
"Yeah, how'd you know?"  
  
"'Cause I think I had the exact same dream. This," he gestured to an imaginary person beside Lily, "person you were talking about, that was me. You were in my dream."  
  
"What happened next in your dream?"  
  
"I-I was killed. You ran up the stairs and locked a door."  
  
"It burst open and I wouldn't give the baby over to him. Whoever that was," Lily added as an afterthought.  
  
"It was V-Voldemort, Lily. He killed you next." James looked somber.  
  
"You mean to say, that, we- you and I- both had the same dream?" her voice quavered.  
  
He nodded. "It's like we're connected or something. I don't know. D'you think we should tell Dumbledore?"  
  
Lily shook her head no. "Maybe we should wait until something like this happens again. So we could be sure."  
  
"What if that something is bad? What if we have to get hurt just to be certain? I can't risk you being hurt in any way, Lily Flower," James protested.  
  
"We'll just have to risk it, then. It's not like I'm important," she snapped.  
  
His face fell.  
  
Her expression softened. "I'm sorry, James. I didn't mean to snap at you. I mean, I'm not that important to the world, am I? Like the, let's say, Minister of Magic?"  
  
James stubbornly shook his head. "No, Lily. But you're important to me. I mean us. Your friends."  
  
"Let's leave this subject alone and try to get some sleep. I'm awfully tired," she yawned.  
  
He hugged her. "Goodnight, Lily Flower. Don't wilt tonight."  
  
An electric shock surged through the both of them when he wrapped his strong arms around her. It was nothing like any of them felt before. Lily felt so safe in his arms, like no harm could come to her; she was protected from the world. James loved the way she fit perfectly in his embrace, the way her head leaned on the crook of his shoulder and when they pulled apart, the two felt incomplete.  
  
"Goodnight, James. Thank you for the hot chocolate."  
  
"Anytime, Lily Flower. Anytime."  
  
He watched her as she went up the stairs and smiled to himself. He was sure he'd have good dreams for the rest of the night.  
  
*KUNDOR- a Dark creature which looks like a small black panther, with a bird beak. A Dark Wizard could take over a Kundor and bite a person whom he/she wished to infect, forming a connection of some sort between the biter and the bitten. 


	5. Potions Class and a Prank

"Hey Lil! Get up or we're going to be late for classes!" Dana bopped Lily on the head with a pillow. A few feathers escaped. Now wanting to cause a pillow fight, as she was not up to it, she got up without complaint.  
  
"Lily! What happened? Didn't you get enough sleep last night?" Clara, who was brushing her golden locks and singing to herself in the mirror, looked t Lily.  
  
Lily propped her head up on an elbow and checked her reflection in the mirror and wasn't surprised with what she saw. Her eyes were circled by black eye bags. She looked deathly pale and her hair stuck up in different places. Her nightclothes were creased every where from tossing and turning all night. She hadn't gone to sleep as early as she thought she would.  
  
"Ah, I just had a slight nightmare. I stayed up late with James. But, I'm ok," she hastily covered up for her appearance. Her two friends exchanged skeptical looks and nodded.  
  
"Slight, meaning screaming about not leaving James behind and about a person names Harry," Dana said.  
  
She sighed and said, "I just talked with James after I woke up. I couldn't get back to sleep, even tough I tried. Please, let's not talk about it anymore."  
  
She went into their bathroom, had a quick shower, brushed her teeth, fixed her bed and got dressed in plain, black Hogwarts robes. Lily grabbed her schoolbag and went down to the Great Hall with her two best friends. She was greeted by McGonagall, who was hurriedly handing out their timetables. One look at the piece of parchment in her hands made her groan.  
  
"Not Double Potions with the Slytherins again!" (a/n: I realized that the boys are in fifth year and the girls in fourth, but in my story, I made the two years share their Potions lessons. ()The Marauders came in, Sirius dragging his feet, Peter rubbing his eyes tiredly and Remus looking cheerful as ever, as he was a rather good morning person. James came in last-  
  
"Whoa, James. Did you have a nightmare, too? Stayed up very late last night, now, with Lily, haven't we?" Clara asked innocently.  
  
Lily sent a death glare at the blonde, who smiled sweetly and serenely.  
  
James' hair stood up in more places than usual. His eyes were not unlike Lily's and he looked very drowsy.  
  
"Yeah, we just had a little chat over some hot drinks. Bloody hell, I'm tired," he yawned.  
  
Sirius snapped up. "What's this about, Prongsie, m'boy? Midnight talks? Are you sure that you didn't do more than just talk with Lily?"  
  
James whacked Sirius' head and muttered "Shut up, Padfoot!" as everyone except Lily, whose face was aflame, sniggered.  
  
They ate their breakfast and the Marauders were speaking in hushed whispers. The girls noticed this and demanded to know what they were talking about.  
  
"Never mind, it's just a prank. Not important. Hey!" Sirius looked at his Quidditch watch, "We've five minutes to get to Potions! Caldwell'll have our heads if we're late, the nasty git! C'mon!"  
  
They hastily finished their remaining food and followed Sirius, who had a slight head start. When they arrived in the dungeons, Caldwell wasn't there yet, so the Marauders decided to put their prank into action.  
  
Sirius whipped out his wand, aimed it at Snape and muttered an incantation they probably made up. The four pranksters laughed hysterically but quieted down as the door slammed. In a flurry of black billowing robes, Professor Maurice Caldwell stood in front of the class.  
  
"Back for another year with me, aren't you?" His eyes narrowed as he scanned the room and his gaze landed on the Gryffindors. "Pettigrew, I do wish you'd stop sending your fellow classmates to the Hospital Wing. But I daresay we can expect that from you?"  
  
He ignored the death glares set his way by Peter's friends and droned on about making the Polyjuice Potion. "I have rented this copy of Moste Potente Potions from the Restricted Section of the library and duplicated it for this class. Gryffindors will share and Slytherins will get one each. Pair up in partners and I'll distribute the ingredients."  
  
Lily and Dana ended up together, James and Remus were partners, Sirius and, unfortunately for him, Peter, and Clara and Hazel.  
  
While adding the lacewings to his potion, Sirius muttered under his breath, loud enough for the three girls to hear, "Bet you anything that the umbrella shoved up his arse went even higher."  
  
Dana, Clara and Lily tried hard to suppress their giggles but failed. Caldwell heard them and snapped, "What, may I ask, is so hilarious that you have to interrupt the peace and quiet in my dungeon?!" Hearing silence as an answer, the potions master took twenty points from their House.  
  
James exploded. "Twenty point for giggling? I bet you my arse that if any of his 'pwecious wittle Swythewins' laughed, he'll just go on about as usual. Watch."  
  
He aimed his wand at Malfoy and muttered, "Rictusempra!"  
  
Their attention turned to the pale, blonde boy, who sniggered hysterically, then to the professor, who went to check another Slytherin's cauldron, unbothered.  
  
James, disgusted at the Slytherin's Head of House's favoritism, ended the spell. "Finite Incantatem."  
  
He shot the others a look that said "I told you so" and went back to adding the shredded skin of a boomslang to his potion. An hour passed by and soon it was time for the testing.  
  
"Silence! Now, get a piece of hair from your partner and slip it into your vial. Drink it after the swirling has stopped," Professor Caldwell said.  
  
Lily picked off a strand of hair from her head and placed it in Dana's cup, while Dana did the same thing, putting hers in Lily's potion. When the swirling stopped, Lily's turned brown, but not the murky kind and Dana's turned scarlet. They both hoped for the best and drank it.  
  
"Ouch!" Peter's (who now looked like Sirius) cry of pain caused Lily to open her eyes. When she looked at Dana, who now looked exactly like Lily, she gave a squeal of joy and relief. The now red-haired Dana opened her eyes and whooped.  
  
Professor Caldwell wasn't paying any attention to Peter, whose face was deforming quickly and his knees had buckled beneath him. The pair went to help Peter up and pushed through Sirius, who was too busy celebrating his successful potion to notice Peter's state, and went to the teacher.  
  
Lily gasped at Peter's heavy weight. "Professor, Peter's potion went wrong!"  
  
He stared at her for a slight second and said, "Typical. I don't see why you're so surprised. Send him to the Hospital Wing. Potter, Black and Lupin will take your things for you. Go on!"  
  
Heaving, the two girls left for the Hospital Wing with Peter's cries echoing through the halls. After leaving Peter with Madame Prinuella, ("Oh my! Mr. Black, what've you gotten yourself into this time?") who'd mistaken Peter to be Sirius, they headed for the Great Hall.  
  
"Oy! Lily, Dana! We're over here!" Sirius flung his arms wildly about his sides, gesturing to the two girls.  
  
They hurriedly ran over to their friends and Lily sat down beside James, while Dana as did to Sirius. They assured the group that Peter was all right and asked for their things. At mentioning their bags, James and Remus pulled them out fro under the table and gasped.  
  
Remus remarked, "How do you manage to carry these around everyday around Hogwarts? Seriously, how do you girls do it?"  
  
Clara asked angelically, "Whatever do you mean, dear Remus?"  
  
"Well," Sirius put in, "first your bags are as heavy as boulders. I didn't now you took all these extra subjects, but you sure seem to have lots of bloody books!"  
  
Dana laughed airily and explained. "You wouldn't understand if we tried to tell you."  
  
Ignoring the three boys' protests, the girls all said together, "It's a girl-"  
  
They were interrupted by a very colorful someone, who burst in though the great wooden doors of the Great Hall, yelling his head off.  
  
"Potter! Black! Lupin! What the hell did you do to me?!" Snape strode over to the Gryffindor table and approached the laughing boys. His usually pale skin was purple, his greasy hair pink with blue polka dots, he clutched a unicorn stuffed toy with one hand, and he was wearing nothing but his bunny boxers.  
  
Having a good look at the Snape, Lily burst out in laughter along with the whole Hall, excluding the Slytherins, who scowled with annoyance.  
  
"POTTER!" 


	6. Divination

The first month of school passed by, without much incident, except that Remus had once again gone to "visit his mother" (when he returned he looked sick himself) and the Marauders were now serving yet another detention given by their Divination teacher, Professor Torres, for "destroying the true Seer aura".  
  
The weekend before October, Professor McGonagall pulled Lily aside after a surprise quiz by Professor Kettleburn in Care of Magical Creatures.  
  
"Miss Evans, may I have a word with you after dinner tonight, at eight o'clock in my office?"  
  
Lily nodded and set off to find her friends, who'd gone ahead of her. She found them sitting by the lake, eating some pastries that Sirius had nicked from the kitchens, and sat between Remus and Dana.  
  
"So, Lily Flower," Lily beamed, James hadn't called her that for a while, "What did McGonagall want?"  
  
Before she could reply, Sirius interrupted her. "She wants to know why you haven't been going to any Prefect meeting, you nutter!"  
  
James smoothly said, "Well, just tell her that being me is very hard, so I might not have enough time in my schedule for such Prefect meetings."  
  
Clara asked, "What did she really want, Lils?"  
  
"Well, I don't know yet, but I'm supposed to go to her office tonight at eight. D'you reckon it's something I did?" Lily wondered.  
  
Dana reassured her. "Nah, it's just probably something to congratulate the girl who's got the highest marks of our year and fifth year."  
  
Peter, who'd been dozing off under a tree nearby, jumped up, and squeaked, "I've to go to the bathroom."  
  
They ignored him and kept on talking. "So, how's Quidditch going?" Remus asked.  
  
Oh, I'm doing great, I don't know about Jamesie boy here is, though, might be tired from all those midnight talks with a certain redhead!" This earned him a whack from a furiously red James, "Snape'll never know what hit him when I aim the Bludger at his big nose. If we're lucky enough, Prinny will get a replacement nose for him that's much smaller." (Sirius was a Beater)  
  
Remus sighed. He really loved Quidditch and enjoyed it as much as James and Sirius did but he couldn't play because of his "condition".  
  
Unfortunately, the girls heard him sigh and turned their attention to him. Now, he looked weak and tired as ever.  
  
They exchanged worried looks. "Are you all right there, Remus?" Clara asked.  
  
"Yes, it's just, uh, my mother, she's not doing so well," he said softly.  
  
Clara, Dana and Lily gave doubtful nods and went back to Quidditch, in which Sirius kept making plans about aiming Bludgers at every part of Snape's body.  
  
Their conversation turned to the next Hogsmeade weekend.  
  
"Remus, what do you want to do first besides Zonko's next Hogsmeade visit?" James asked.  
  
He said thoughtfully, "Since it's getting colder now, nearing autumn, let's get some Butterbeers in the Three Broomsticks. That ok?"  
  
Dana said, "I think we, meaning us girls, should check out the new branch of Madam Malkin's."  
  
Sirius asked, "Whatever for?"  
  
Clara sighed and gave the other girls a look that plainly said, 'Could guys get any stupider' and said slowly, as if explaining something to a toddler, "We've to find dress robes for the Yule ball. Duh, Siri."  
  
"And, uh, James, Sirius, remember you need to, ah, get the rest of the ingredients for your, er, potion? With Peter?" Remus hinted, his voice getting softer as he tried to make himself audible only to his fellow Marauders. Confusion clouded the two boys' faces and suddenly, realization dawned on their features as they remembered their Animagus potion, sitting in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom on the second floor, waiting to be brewed.  
  
Sirius nodded and curtly said, "Don't worry, Remmie boy, we'll get the, er, ingredients."  
  
Clara, Lily and Dana, of course, had no idea what they were talking about and the Marauders were never this concerned over a potion. Dana asked what the time was. . James casually checked his watched and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Bloody hell! Lily, we're late for Divination! And you lot! You're late for Ancient Runes. C'mon!" (a/n: I decided that the fourth and fifth year Gryffindors should share all their classes. :p)  
  
They jumped up and started making their way to the North Tower. Panting, they ran up the staircases and when they reached the trapdoor, their faces were lined with beads of sweat. Reaching upwards, James pulled the rope down and they stumbled up the ladder in to the room of Professor Angelo Torres.  
  
"I saw you coming. Please, take a seat. We were just getting in on advanced crystal ball reading along with palmistry," said the teacher.  
  
James and Lily set off in a corner, sat down on the poufs and listened to Torres.  
  
"If you take your partner's hand in one hand and rest the other on the base of the ball, it will result in something. You have to concentrate on the person whose future you are reading. Three figures will appear, in this order: the first one will be your end, or, otherwise, how your soul will depart. The second will be your true love, or rather, the person you are destined to spend your life with. And the third is just a figure to show what the future holds most dear for you. You may begin," explained the young professor.  
  
James took Lily's hand in his right (they both felt the same surge of electricity when James hugged Lily) and she blushed pink. He avoided her eyes and placed his left hand at the black circular podium supporting the crystal ball and gazed into it intently. What he saw about Lily surprised him.  
  
The first figure was a flash of green light coming from a wand, and as quickly as it had come, it was gone. He watched more intently, as the second figure arrived. It shocked him even more than the first figure did.  
  
Standing right in the middle of the crystal ball, prancing proudly, in its tall and broad glory, was a stag.  
  
A stag.  
  
A stag was what James was planning to be for his Animagus form. The impact of this sight on James was more than any surprise he ever received. He didn't realize his brow was furrowed and that Lily was watching him.  
  
"What's wrong, James?" she asked, concerned. When he didn't answer, he gently prodded his upper forearm and he looked at her.  
  
"What- oh, nothing. It's nothing." And he quickly focused on the crystal ball again.  
  
The stag had disappeared and in its place was the third figure. A baby. Not just any baby but one with messy black hair and startling green eyes.  
  
'Is that, James wondered to himself, 'Is that Lily's and my baby?'  
  
He tore his gaze away from the now giggling baby boy and looked at Lily. Her emerald eyes shone brightly despite the fogginess of the classroom. She looked bored to death and she was staring blankly at a corner behind James.  
  
'Probably daydreaming,' James concluded. He waved his left hand over Lily's eyes and when she didn't take notice, he snapped his fingers. She blinked rapidly and gave a questioning stare.  
  
"Your turn."  
  
Lily nodded and placed his left hand in her right. Her left hand went to the ball's base. She focused intently on the swirling masses of gray and concentrated on James.  
  
A flash of green light coursed through the ball. She was stunned for a few minutes before the second figure arrived. If Lily was taken by surprise during the first figure, her astonishment couldn't compare to what she felt when she saw who, or rather, what James would spend his life with.  
  
A lily stood, amidst the misty smoke. A lily. The flower that she had been named after. It was there.  
  
She gaped at it and her eyes went wide. Lily shook her head, as if trying to shake out what she just saw. James looked at her and wondered if she saw herself n his future, since her reaction was unlike his when he saw a stag in her future.  
  
And the last figure came moments after the lily faded away. It was blurry at first but it became clearer as the fog lifted upwards. A baby (was it a boy or a girl?) that had unruly black hair and surprisingly, emerald eyes. 'That baby.Is he James' and mine?' she wondered.  
  
"That's enough for today. Class dismissed," Professor Torres announced.  
  
James and Lily had come to an unspoken agreement not to talk about what they had seen. They headed off to dinner. 


	7. A Word with McGonagall

"Hey there, Lilyana, Prongsie! You two look like you've seen Snape exotically dancing in the hallway. What's up?" Sirius took a short glance at the pair who'd just arrived for dinner and turned back to poking his fork at Peter.  
  
Dana looked up. "Hey Lils, Siri's right. Did you see anything bad-"  
  
She was cut off by Clara. "Did anyone important die or something?"  
  
Remus asked James in a low voice, "Did I a-attack anyone?"  
  
James stared at him as if he'd sprouted an extra head. "Of course not, Moony."  
  
He quickly changed the topic to his favorite sport of all: Quidditch.  
  
"We need replacements, Padfoot. One of our Chasers graduated last year. We have to hold tryouts soon."  
  
Sirius nodded. "Yeah, Prongs. How 'bout Lily? She's pretty good from what I've seen."  
  
He was referring to the time when James had invited his friends over for the summer to one of his mansions, the one that included a Quidditch pitch.  
  
"Lily Flower, think about it ok?" James caught sight of her face and knew she was about to decline.  
  
She shut her mouth and nodded. Lily checked her watch and announced she had to go to McGonagall's office. She left them, promising Clara and Dana she'd meet them later in their Common Room.  
  
~*~  
  
Lily made her way down the staircase leading to the second floor from the Great Hall for her meeting with McGonagall. One of her favorite paintings, Anne Boleyn, greeted her.  
  
"Hello, Lily! What brings you about here at this time?"  
  
"Oh, hello, Anne! I'm just going to Professor McGonagall's office for a word or two."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't want you to be late, now, so why don't you just go on ahead?"  
  
"Thanks, Anne. Nice seeing you. I'll try to drop by sometime later. Bye!"  
  
She continued on her way along the torch-lit corridor and stopped when she reached her office.  
  
Before Lily raised her hand to knock on the door, it opened and the stern young professor stepped out.  
  
"Miss Evans. I was expecting you. Please, come in my office," she extended a welcoming hand and gestured to her office.  
  
Lily timidly walked in and sat down on one of the armchairs before a desk. She leaned forward and saw pictures of a pretty young girl with blond hair and grey eyes. 'Wow, she was really pretty when she was small,' Lily thought.  
  
"Straight to the point, Miss Evans. Well, you have done exceedingly great on your schoolwork this month," Lily beamed at this compliment, "So well that you have done better than any fifth year in their work. You have potential, Professor Dumbledore and I feel it."  
  
She cleared her throat and said, "Do you understand what I'm saying, Miss Evans? We, the Headmaster, I and most of your teachers think that your fourth year courses, both required and non required are not challenging you enough anymore. We are promoting you to fifth year, Miss Evans."  
  
Lily sat there, gaping like a fish out of the water, her mouth groping for words. Did she just hear right? Did she, Lillian Rose Evans, just get promoted to the fifth year?  
  
"Well, Miss Evans?" Professor McGonagall waited for the surprised girl's answer.  
  
"Professor McGonagall! This is such a big honor! I read in Hogwarts, a History that no one has ever been promoted to a higher level in-"  
  
"Six hundred, eight nine years. Yes, I'm very much aware of that."  
  
Lily thought of all the opportunities and downsides to this promotion. "I'll take it, Professor!"  
  
Unexpectedly, the teacher smiled and said, "I wasn't expecting you to decline. Any questions?"  
  
She had a million questions in mind. She managed only a few." Where will I sleep? There are no spaces in the fifth year girls' dormitory, I know."  
  
"Well, one of the girls is moving to Beauxbatons at the end of October. You may either stay in your current dorm or move to the fifth year's dorm. Any more inquiries?"  
  
"Well, would I have to take on any more classes? I already took all the three extra required."  
  
"Professor Dumbledore will let you find out in due time. Now, off to bed." McGonagall shooed Lily gently towards the door.  
  
"And Miss Evans? Please give us your answer as to where you will sleep in five days. Good night."  
  
Lily closed the door behind her with a million thoughts swirling about in her head. 'Wow! Me, a fifth year?' 'Did I really just get promoted?' 'What will Clara and Dana say?' 'Should I stay in my dorm or move to the fifth year's?'  
  
She reached the seventh floor and headed for the portrait of the Fat Lady. She was nowhere in sight. Lily sighed and decided to sleep for a while.  
  
~*~  
  
Lily was awoken from her nap by a pair of footsteps. She checked her watch and groaned. Ten thirty five. She looked up and saw-  
  
"James?"  
  
"Lily Flower?"  
  
"Why're you all dirty and messed up?"  
  
"Oh, nothing. I just came back from a duel with Snape in the Trophy Room."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Well, I slipped a Dungbomb in his pumpkin juice whe you left for dinner and he challenged me."  
  
"Who won?"  
  
"Lily! I did, of course!"  
  
"Sorry, sorry...who was your second?"  
  
"Remus."  
  
"Oh. Where is he?"  
  
"Er, Hospital Wing. He got hit by Malfoy with a Furnunculus hex."  
  
"Tsk, tsk. You really should stop pranking Snape."  
  
"Why? He's a slimy, dirty, greasy-haired git with a pipe shoved up his-"  
  
"I don't want to hear it! So, where d'you think the Fat Lady went off to?"  
  
"Probably to visit her friend Violet. Say, what did McGonagall want?"  
  
"I almost forgot! Guess what?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I got accelerated to fifth year?"  
  
"Wow, Lily Flower! That's great!"  
  
"Yeah, did you know one of the fifth year girls is moving to Beauxbatons?"  
  
"Really? Who?"  
  
"McGonagall didn't tell me."  
  
"Hey, look the Fat Lady's back."  
  
Indeed she was. She came chattering through the portrait with her friend Violet in tow.  
  
"Oh, Vi! You should've seen it, it was marvelous!"  
  
"Don't look now, but you've got two students waiting for you."  
  
"Rubbish!" Turning to James, she said, "Password?"  
  
"Gigglebberries." She swung open and they stepped into the Common Room. 


	8. Introductions and Dares

When Lily stepped in, she was bombarded with congratulations from the fifth years. Apparently, McGonagall had informed them of her achievement.  
  
"Wow, Lily! What an honor!" Jasmine Andrews said enthusiastically. She was a pretty girl, with shoulder-length chestnut curls and big, brown eyes.  
  
Cassandra Flores, a raven-haired beauty with beetle-black eyes, stepped up next. "Will you move in with us? D'you want to? It'll be so much fun!"  
  
Then, the fifth year female prefect from Gryffindor, Alexia Cruin, went to Lily. "Hey, Lily! I'm sad to be moving to France but I'm happy for you!"  
  
The two other fifth years, Mantra and Paige O'Donnell gave their congratulations. They were identical twins, with a dimple on each side of their mouths, blond, wavy hair that curled at the bottom and baby blue eyes.  
  
But over all the fifth year's noise came two squeals that Lily would recognize anywhere. "Lily, Lily! What's this they're talking about?" Dana's voice came as she pushed her way through to her friend. By now, several people had heard the fifth year girls acknowledging Lily and wanted to know what happened.  
  
Clara stumbled after and looked at the beaming Lily. "I got accelerated to fifth year!"  
  
"Wow, Lils! That's great!" Clara said happily.  
  
Then, Dana's face fell. "What did Cassandra mention about moving in?"  
  
"McGonagall said I could stay with you or move in with them," Lily had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was dreading this conversation.  
  
"How's that going to happen? There won't be any space since they're full," Clara pointed out.  
  
"Alexia's moving to Beauxbatons," the redhead gestured to Alexia, who was eagerly chatting with her friends near the fire.  
  
"What do you want, Lils?" Dana asked.  
  
Lily sighed, dragged the two cousins off to a dark, secluded corner and said, "Look, guys, I've been given a wonderful opportunity to make new friends. And I won't have to suffer anymore because of Alice and Hazel. The only bother me, not you, since you're both purebloods. And these fifth years, they like me and I like them. But you'll always be my best friends."  
  
Clara looked touched but Dana protested, "But Lils! I don't want you to move! WE won't spend as much time together as we used to."  
  
Lily sighed once more. "I promise I'm not going to change! I'm just going to graduate earlier. Okay?"  
  
The brunette still looked doubtful but nodded. They all hugged each other warmly and went back to the lively Common Room.  
  
Before they could get to Sirius, James and Peter to tell them Lily's news, the fifth year girls blocked their way.  
  
"Lily, if you're going to be moving in with us, we'll have to introduce ourselves!"  
  
Cassandra stood up and pointed a thumb to herself. "Hey Lils! Can I call you that? I'm Marianna Deirdre Cassandra Margot Flores, in short, Cassie. I'm the resident cheer bubble!" She giggled and Lily couldn't help joining in as well. The girl's bright and bubbly mood was infectious. Lily thought, 'I think I'll be Cassie's company very much!'  
  
The twins were next.  
  
Paige was about to step up next but her twin oushed her back. After ignoring the dirty scowl sent her way, Mantra said, "Hi Lily! I'm Mantra Crystal O'Donnell, you can call me Mantra. I guess you could call me a tomboy, but I still like boys in a girlie way, you could say!" Lily recognized her as one of the Chasers on their Quidditch team.  
  
Her sister stepped forward and said, "What's up? I'm Audrey Penelope Paige O'Donnell. Never, ever call me Penny, I hate that name. You could say that I'm the fashion freak in our dorm! I help everyone with their make-up and things for balls and other stuff!"  
  
Last up was Jasmine Andrews. She smiled happily and said, "Hey Lil! I'm Jasmine Cezanne Martina Andrews. Call me Jamian. I'm the one you can talk to whenever you need help, cheering up or whenever you're bored out of your wits!" "Wow, what a nice girl,' Lily thought.  
  
She suddenly felt bashful and stuttered, "I'm Lillian Rose Evans, but you already know my nickname. Don't call me Lily Flower," Lily's voice dropped much lower and she cast a cautious glance at James, who was animatedly laughing with his friends, head thrown back with mirth, while they started playing an intense Exploding Snap game, "Only James calls me that."  
  
All at the same time, Jamian, Penny, Cassie and Mantra's jaws dropped. After a long silence, in which the quiet was filled with the Marauder's screams and sniggers, Penny managed out, "You actually speak to James Potter? The James Potter? As in, James Potter the son of Harry Potter, Minister of Magic?"  
  
She frowned and nodded. 'Was that all people could see about James? Only that he's rich?' Lily sighed and said, "Yeah, he's really nice. Awful, though,, when his radar picks up Snape's scent."  
  
Cassie asked Lily, "Severus Snape? He's that Slytherin, right? Greasy, slimy, oily-haired boy, in our year?"  
  
Lily's frown was lifted from her face as she thought of Snape. "Yeah, the one who tags along with Lucius Malfoy and his friends."  
  
In a voice that Jamian thought Lily couldn't hear, she whispered in Penny's ear, "Yeah, the one who fancies Lily."  
  
Lily After Clara and Dana introduced their selves, the three younger girls went to the Marauders, who were still involved in their ferocious game of Exploding Snap (Peter now had several scorch marks on his pudgy face). They sat down beside the boys, however, this did not get their attention. Clara cleared her throat importantly, all to no avail. Lily tapped Remus on the shoulder, but this, too, was in vain. Finally, Dana, fed up with the boys' ignorance and in a bad mood, sighed very loudly.  
  
"What's up, Dan?"  
  
"Oh, not much. My best friend just got accelerated to fifth year, she's going to be moving out of our dorm in three days and don't call me Dan," she snapped heavily.  
  
Sirius didn't look he least bit affected. In fact, he was looking at Lily and Dana, back and forth, amusedly. "I don't get it, Dan. I thought you were her best friends, aren't you supposed to be happy or glad for her?"  
  
Dana sighed exasperatedly and shot her cousin a knowing look. "Well, how'd you feel if James, Remus or Peter went a year ahead of you. And don't call me Dan!"  
  
Again, her snappishness didn't get to Sirius. He appeared deep int thought and after a moment's silence said, "Well, I think I could do without Peter, and I'd survive if Remus went away and James'd be better off without me, so I'd be bloody well happy for my best friends."  
  
They all gaped at him in shock, he usually didn't make sense. "Are you serious?"  
  
He broke into a stupid, wide grin. "Last I heard I was."  
  
Remus shook his head. "Not the lame Serious-Sirius joke again! That's so old!"  
  
James looked proudly at his Lily Flower, thinking, 'I'm so happy for her.'  
  
Lily felt someone staring and when she turned around, her soft green eyes came in contact with his dark brown ones. She flushed crimson and turned to talk to Clara.  
  
James was confused. He'd been noticing her blush every time she caught him looking at her or something. Did she like him.that way? He shuddered at the thought. She was quite pretty. She looked nothing at all like his previous and current girlfriends (Melissa Watson in Hufflepuff). They'd all looked alike: brown her with brown eyes, blondes with sky blue orbs. All into the same things, like make-up, gossip, famous models, fashion, the new in hair- do's.  
  
Lily was nothing like them. She was natural, didn't give a damn about make- up, hated talking about people behind their backs and always pulled her wavy auburn hair into a loose ponytail, and let some loose locks down to frame her angelic face.  
  
'Wait a minute. Did I just say angelic face?' James frowned.  
  
He shrugged this off and turned to his friends' conversation. They were raving on and on about the upcoming Quidditch match, Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw.  
  
"Malcolm Boot's the new Captain, I heard their old one graduated last year. Their Seeker's got some spectacular moves, but nothing Sandra Perez from Ravenclaw can't beat," Remus observed.  
  
Sirius was about to say something when he was cut short by Hazel, who seated herself perfectly on Sirius' lap and started kissing him on the mouth. Sirius was surprised by this but made no effort whatsoever to stop her. On the side, Alice Montague giggled madly. James caught sight of her and she blushed.  
  
After Hazel had to pull away to catch her breath, she grinned triumphantly and sauntered back to the now hysterical Alice. They could all hear her say in an exaggeratedly loud voice, "There, Al. I did it! I kissed Sirius Black on the lips senseless."  
  
Alice nodded to show her approval. "D'you want me to do my dare now?" Hazel urged her on and she, in turn, climber onto James' lap and started kissing the caught off guard boy. Unlike Sirius, however, he pulled away and shook his head. He spun his head to where Lily (who'd only seen the kiss and ran away before she could catch James parting his and Alice's mouths quickly) was sitting, or sat, and saw her just in time to see that she had left the room, her hands to her eyes. 


	9. Hogsmeade Under Attack!

"Uh-oh, Jamesie, m'boy! Your love's just seen you snogging another woman!" Sirius kidded as he watched James gape after the back of the redhead. James turned on him instantly and opened his mouth to snap angrily. He never got a chance to word his angry retort.  
  
Because before he could speak, terror-filled screams came from the direction of Hogsmeade. The Common Room of Gryffindor Tower fell silent, all action stopped abruptly, as was the rest of the castle. It seemed as if time chose that moment to take a break. Chess games were paused, giggles and laughter halted, chasing each other had ended and all the students' heads instantly swerved to the east. Through a window, they could all see one thing: Hogsmeade, their beloved fun providing, break-time occupying, and simply a place to hang out village was aflame.  
  
"AVADA KEDAVRA!!"  
  
The chilling spell silenced all remaining sounds, which were few. Rising from a tip of someone's wand, after a muttered "Morsmorde", was the Dark Mark. And as if someone turned on a switch, everyone snapped out of their reverie and screamed. Littered in the air were frightened yelps, this time not only coming from Hogsmeade, but from Hogwarts as well.  
  
*~*  
  
Lily, in her dorm, had also heard the screams from the wizarding village, the eerie silence that had followed, the spine-tingling voice that had shouted the unblockable Killing Curse and the screams from their own castle that had erupted after.  
  
She started shaking madly for the growing terror within her and ran on pure instinct to the Common Room. Lily had forewarned herself to prepare for the worst scene, but still got a shock.  
  
The usually cheerful Marauders sat on the sofas, heads permanently stuck to the window in the East End. Girls were sobbing, including Clara and Dana. The tiny first and second years were numb with the dumb realization that they weren't as safe as they thought themselves to be. The older boys were trying to maintain peace, you could hear them yelling above Sacha Pront's grief-filled yells (her brother worked as an assistant in the Three Broomsticks, all her family were killed by Voldemort a few years back, and he was the only one she had left) orders to calm down and not be frightened, aside from the fact that they were scared themselves.  
  
Above the pandemonium, Professor McGonagall (who entered her House's Common Room, unnoticed) shouted, "Settle down! Hogsmeade is under attack, as you know, by You-Know-Who. Please, it would not do well if we just stand here, yelling our heads off, not helping. Professor Dumbledore ordered fifth years and above, yes, that includes you, Miss Evans," she said nodding to the gesturing redhead on the stairs, before continuing, "to go to Hogsmeade and heal all people before the hospital doctors and nurses arrive. The rest of you will be sleeping in the Great Hall, with the rest of your classmates from other Houses. Fifth years and above, follow me. Hurry, please."  
  
Lily, along with the rest of her classmates from the upper years, ran out, following the billowing black robes of their Head of House.  
  
They met up with the confused and scared-looking Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs (the Slytherins looked particularly unbaffled in the least, they must've known this was coming) and all the staff, except Madame Prinuella, Professor Torres and Apollyon Pringle, led them running through the familiar path to Hogsmeade, their robes snagging at the low hanging branches.  
  
When they reached their destination, most if the Death Eaters were still there and so were some of the Aurors. Most of them had gone after the escaping Death Eaters, Alastor Moody informed Dumbledore, before limping away to fire curses at the remaining standing Death Eaters.  
  
The streets of Hogsmeade, on which the students and their friends had tromped along on happily, were littered with the usually happy civilians' bodies, the buildings in which they had drank Butterbeer and shopped for dress robes and other things were burned down, black rubbles littered where they once stood.  
  
The students were astounded and with dumb realization recognized this pile of mess to be Hogsmeade. Professor McGonagall saw their astonishment and sympathized with them for a few moments, but this wasn't a time to be surprised.  
  
"Students! This is a great shock to you, I trust, but it is no time to be standing around useless when we could be helping and healing the wounded. The healing charms: for burns, Substantium Eberium. For broken bones, we'll have to make do with splints and bandages, Ferula. For levitating the unconscious to the Portkey site, on the sidewalk beside the post office, Mobilicorpus. Get to work! Severus Snape, Marcia Greinhardt, stay behind, you will be helping Professor Mantle and I with the potions. Hurry," she lost no time in taking control.  
  
Lily had been helping a girl, about six years of age, who had a broken leg and nasty burns over her upper body when she heard a groan to her right. Quickly levitating the girl to the Portkey site, she turned to where the groan had come from.  
  
It was a boy, only a couple of years older than her. She looked at him with pity; his head was bleeding profusely from a crack that ran from his left temple to his mouth, his leg was bleeding, too, a large rock had apparently fallen on it, the bone seemed to be cracked. He had bruises and cuts all over, and it looked like he suffered from a very strong Cruciatus Curse.  
  
Lily attended to him immediately. He had a raging fever and she beckoned Professor McGonagall, who was stirring a Pepper-Up Potion with Snape and some other students who were gifted at potions.  
  
The older woman came bustling over with a vial of Pepper-Up Potion and she wordlessly handed it over to Lily. After the young man's bruises and cuts had been tended to and his fever was broken with the help of the potion, she levitated him to the Portkey site to be taken to St. Mungo's, as he was in no state to walk.  
  
"Help, please.help." came a desperate cry for help from behind her. She sighed tiredly and she looked over. Lily had never seen anything more pitiful. Lying over a pile of rubble, with dirt all over her, was a woman, holding a new-born infant. The baby was so pale and it's chest heaved up and down very slowly. Lily felt a familiar burning behind her eyes. She blinked her tears away and helped the young mother stand up.  
  
"Thank you, miss. Is my Charlie ok? Is he?" she asked Lily tearfully. Lily looked Charlie over and checked his pulse; it was very faint but was beating, just barely.  
  
"Is he." the woman couldn't bring herself to say the word she dreaded the most about her child.  
  
Lily faced the distraught woman and said, in a grave voice, "No, he's alive, but just barely. This is to make him feel a little better. Go to the Portkey area, bring him to St. Mungo's immediately. Hurry up, ma'am."  
  
The woman hugged Lily, which caught her off-guard and thanked her. After watching the young mother rush to catch a Portkey, she looked around and spotted James, lifting a pile of rubber. Hurrying up to the black-haired boy, she saw him helping a young man up. Lily ran all the faster and aided James. Surprise etched his handsome features before a determined look set place over his face again.  
  
They laid the man down and he opened his eyes, coughed and sputtered a bit before asking, "Who- who are you? What happened?"  
  
Lily said, "Oh, God! You're Sacha's brother!"  
  
It was true; the young adult had his younger sister's dark, hazel eyes and firm, sturdy mouth. His leg was torn up pretty badly, not unlike the boy she had helped earlier, he also had a crack running from the left side of his bloody forehead until his chin, but it was bigger. He was bleeding really bad from all the wounds all over his body. He didn't look like he was going to make it, but James and Lily could not give up.  
  
"Yes, my name is Duncan. Where is she? Is she hurt? Is she all right?" He had no intentions about himself, only for his sister.  
  
"No, only fifth years and above were sent to Hogsmeade. She's back at the castle, safe and warm with her friends," James said.  
  
Duncan nodded, to show he understood. "Could you do a favor for me then?"  
  
Lily nodded yes.  
  
"Tell her I love her more than anything in the world, and I'll be watching her forever with our family. I'll always love he-"  
  
Lily was afraid to look. The head they'd been holding up fell from James and her arms. Duncan Pront had gone to meet his family. Tears welled up in her eyes once more and she knew if she saw anymore pain, she wouldn't be able to take it.  
  
Luckily, Professor McGonagall beckoned for the students that the doctors along with their nurses had come and it was time to go back to the castle.  
  
One girl from Ravenclaw fainted, Patricia Dyres. McGonagall wasn't surprised.  
  
"Healing with magic is very tiring. Don't be shocked if some more collapse. Simply levitate them into school and into the Hospital Wing. No questions, Mr. Black," she said as she spotted Sirius beginning to open his mouth. He shut it fast and they began their way to the castle, dirty and with mud- caked skin.  
  
Lily felt her eyes beginning to droop and her exhaustion settled in her petite body, she couldn't take it.  
  
She muttered a small help that James heard since he was walking close beside her. Hen, the world blacked out on her. 


	10. Trusting Remus

When Lily regained her consciousness, she looked around and saw white walls around. Getting up from the bed, she glanced at the mirror near the medicine cabinet. She looked awful, her hair was frizzed up and her eyes were bloodshot. The small girl's skin looked translucent, it was so pale. The beds near her own were filled with some students who Lily recognized to be some of which she had worked alongside with in Hogsmeade.  
  
She jerked at a sudden movement, Madame Prinuella was bustling around, snapping larges slabs of chocolate into even pieces and putting three onto each of the students' bedside tables. The kind but strict nurse heard Lily's gasp and spun around.  
  
"Oh, sorry, dear, I didn't know you were up and about. Here, eat it," she handed Lily a medium-sized chocolate piece and she gratefully took it. Warmth spread over her limbs and her brain didn't feel as logged as before.  
  
"Thanks, Madame Prinuella. May I go up to the Common Room already?"  
  
"Oh, just a check-up."  
  
After having passed Prinuella's check-up, Lily walked up the staircases leading to the seventh floor. After giving the Fat Lady the password ("Dissento!"), she headed back into one of the couches, in front of a dying ember in the fireplace. The memories of last night relived themselves in her head: James kissing Alice, her running up to her room and starting to pack her things furiously, and then being called in to help Hogsmeade. Lily sighed and lay down on the scarlet couch, her thoughts occupied by a raven- haired someone.  
  
"Ahem," someone cleared his throat. She jumped up and looked behind her, where Remus Lupin stood.  
  
"Oh, hi, Remus. Didn't see you there," she patted the empty space on the couch for him to sit down on.  
  
"Lily, I know you were thinking about James," he said.  
  
"What do you mean, Remus?"  
  
"Well, you got this dreamy look upon your face mixed with hatred, possibly for Alice."  
  
"What makes you say that I fancy James?"  
  
"I didn't you did."  
  
"I most certainly do not fancy James Harry Potter! He's a stuck-up snob, a rich git, and a player!"  
  
"Well, Lils, it's pretty obvious you like him."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"For starters, when he calls you Lily Flower, you blush. When he's around you, you blush. When he speaks to you, you blush. When he gets a new girlfriend, you blush. When he touches you, you blush. SO, you pretty much blush whenever you're around James."  
  
"What do I do then?" Lily whispered, eyes to the red carpet.  
  
Remus, who'd been expecting a cry of outrage, a denial of what he just said, was astounded. He wasn't sure he heard right.  
  
"I beg your pardon?"  
  
"I said, Remus, what do I do about it, then?"  
  
"How long have you liked him, Lils?"  
  
"Since the end of second year."  
  
"Oh. Maybe you should tell him how you feel. Then, we'll find out."  
  
"What if he declines or something?"  
  
"Can a person decline another's feelings?"  
  
"Point taken."  
  
"There is no such thing, is all. I better head back now."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, Lils. Let's just say people don't usually stay in the Common Room at such an ungodly hour, like 3 in the morning."  
  
"It's 3 am? Bloody hell, that's why Madame Prinuella didn't want me to go. Well, thanks Rem."  
  
"You're welcome. And Lily?"  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"You might want to consider telling James what you feel about him seriously. It could do wonders-"  
  
"Or make things worse. G'night, Moony."  
  
Remus stopped in his tracks to the Gryffindor Fifth Year Boy's dorm and turned around, paling visibly and stared questioningly at the girl.  
  
"What?" she shrugged. "I heard Peter call you that."  
  
He slumped his shoulders and gave a sigh of relief. "OK, Lils. It's just that it's a Marauder thing. Please don't mention it again."  
  
"Okay, Remus. Thanks, again."  
  
After Remus had gone to bed and his usual snores filled Gryffindor Tower, along with all the other snorers, Lily went back to thinking. As she recalled her fond memory when James first pulled a prank on her, she felt her eyes drooping.  
  
*~*  
  
"Nott! Goyle! What is this new Auror that Malfoy tells me about?" The high- pitched voice of Lord Voldemort spat out at two cowering figure kneeled on the damp floor of his cave hide-out in Brazil.  
  
Goyle looked up fearfully and answered, "Master, Alastor Moody beat half of our Death Eaters in the Hogsmeade attack. He may be a threat to your plans, my Lord. He always seems to know where we are."  
  
"Yes, Master. He knew of our attack on Essex, Wimbledon and even that little town, Sascwatcherous," Nott added.  
  
The Dark Lord was outraged. "What?! This cannot be! Execute this Auror you speak of at once!"  
  
He left with a huff, his charcoal black robes billowing behind him. The two Death Eaters hurried out at once.  
  
*~*  
  
"Lily! Lillian Rose Evans, get up right now!" Clara shook her friend awake while Dana amusedly looked on.  
  
The redhead stretched her cramped arms and looked round. Confusion settled in her face as she took in her surroundings, then realization dawned upon her.  
  
"Oh, hey guys! Had a good night's- night's- slee-sleep?" Lily put on a fake bright and cheerful voice while trying to cover two huge yawns. The cousins giggled and put their hands on their hips (obviously they'd planned this, Lily thought).  
  
"Lillian-"  
  
"Rose-"  
  
"EVANS!" Both of them finished.  
  
Lily put on a what she thought was an innocent smile, but what really made her look guiltier than ever. "Yes, dear friends of mine?"  
  
"Where were you last night?"  
  
"We heard your footsteps and waited for you to come to our dorm!"  
  
"But, no! Lily had to go and talk to a GUY!"  
  
"OH, yes, Lillian! We heard you and a GUY's voice!"  
  
"Talking at a very late hour, I must say, 3 in the morning!"  
  
"What were you thinking?"  
  
"Worse, what were you doing?"  
  
"Was he a good snog?"  
  
Dana brought their played out conversation to an end as curiosity got the better for her. Which resulted in her getting a smack on the arm and an ear- piercing shriek from Clara, confirming Lily's suspicions that blondes do scream well. (A/n: no offense at all to blondes!)  
  
After removing her hands from her aching ears, she put away all her friends' doubts. "No, Dana, he wasn't a good snog, considering the fact I'll never find out and I don't intend to since I don't like Remus," she said pointedly and was satisfied with Dana and Clara's understanding "Oh!"  
  
"So, Lils," Clara said in what she hoped was an offhand sort of voice, "What you talk about, hmm?"  
  
Lily sent a death glare at her friend who was chewing on her nail and looking around, wide-eyed with innocence.  
  
"He knows about James."  
  
"Good gosh. How'd he find out?"  
  
"He figured it out fro himself, he's not as daft as I thought him to be."  
  
"What'd he say?"  
  
"I dunno. I asked him what to do about it."  
  
"You what?!"  
  
"Lils, d'you know we're talking about a Marauder here!"  
  
"He's the sensible one!"  
  
"Still! Tell a secret to a Marauder, it'll be divulged to the world in no less than ten seconds!"  
  
"I trust him!"  
  
This shit them up. For Lily to out her trust someone showed that he/she was really trustworthy. It had taken Dana and Clara all of first and most of second year to gain her trust, much more her friendship, since her damn sister, Petunia made her believe that she was a freak and no one wanted to be her friend. SO it had taken nearly two years to make her come out of her shell.  
  
"I trust him, too. Don't you Dana?"  
  
"Yeah, Clars. I trust him, too." 


	11. Good News

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize from the Harry Potter series is not mine. I made Clara, Dana, Alice, Hazel, etc. The others belong to J.K. Rowling.  
  
On to the story!!  
  
Breakfast was a solemn meal for Hogwarts. Tension hung in the air, tiredness for the older students, curiosity for the younger. When Dumbledore came in, what little conversation there was stopped altogether.  
  
"Students, it is my sad duty to inform you of a Dark Wizard who is quickly rising. He has terrorized some of your families. He used to be a student here and was the Head Boy, from Slytherin. He is Lord Voldemort."  
  
The school gasped, unbelieving he said the Dark Wizard's named. Dumbledore heard this and raised a skeptical eyebrow.  
  
"We are all in this fight together, all on the light side, I believe. There is no need to be afraid to say his name aloud. One must be able to say the name of the fear he fears the most. If you are asked to join his followers, his band of Death Eaters, and he threatens to kill you and your loved ones, please be spared the consequences of your actions."  
  
Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws' eyes swiftly swerved to the Slytherins' table, where they grew visibly pale.  
  
"Last night, Voldemort attacked Hogsmeade. Fifth and older years were sent to help heal the people before the ST. Mungo's staff could arrive. Let us all give a round of applause for them," he said.  
  
The Great Hall rang with clapping and when it died down, Dumbledore said in a grave voice, "It is also my regret to tell you who died from our side. Sven of ours died last night, the following: Christian Moor, an elderly man, Serena and Drudelle Trans, two infant twins, Madam Tavern, our Three Broomsticks bartender, Michael Dale, a six-year old boy, Camille Flores, a post office worker and Duncan Pront, an assistant in Flourish and Blott's and Sacha Pront's brother. Let us have a moment's silence for these people."  
  
~*~  
  
Quidditch try-outs were held the second week into October, during a Tuesday. The castle had a tense aura about it. Students talk and joked and laughed less, even the Marauders toned their jokes down a bit.  
  
By now, Lily had moved into the fifth year girl's dormitory, after the four older girls bade a tearful goodbye to Alexia and welcomed Lily heartily. She missed her friends but not a lot, since fourth years shared classes with fifth years, except fifth years had to take an extra class besides the required two. She had Advanced Charms and Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts, which she had with her fifth year friends.  
  
"Order! Order!" James tried and miserably failed to start their meeting Tuesday morning. They needed a new Chaser, Keeper and Beater. Sirius was on the team, he was a Beater, Mantra was a Chaser, like James and Summer Dence was their Seeker.  
  
"We need to find stamina, agility, strength, strong will and the passion to kick some Slytherin arse!!" James said, pumping his closed fist in the air.  
  
As Gryffindor Quidditch players, it was their duty to administer and supervise the try-outs, along with Madame Quince. A long line of eager Gryffindors was beginning outside the locker room where James and his teammates stayed. Try-outs from the past years when he had been on the team told him that he was in for a long day and was soon going to get pretty bored himself.  
  
"Sirius," James warned the drooling boy, fast asleep. He wasn't sure if it was just an act. "Up, up Siri!"  
  
He clapped twice, whistled his famous far-piercing whistle, snapped his fingers real loud, and shouted as the two girls looked on amusedly. James was frustrated; he wanted try-outs to get over and done with as soon as possible and a snoring Sirius wasn't going to help.  
  
Now, a frustrated Potter is one thing one hopes never to cross in one's life.  
  
"Padfoot! Your mum is coming with Annette!!"  
  
Sirius sprang awake, eyes wide, hands clutched to his head, his face a mask of terror and confusion. He ran out to the Quidditch pitch, where he could be heard shouting, "Outta my way! Outta my way!!"  
  
James chuckled, frustrated no longer, while Mantra and Summer peered questioningly at him. He threw up his hands and said, apologetically, "Sorry, Annette's Sirius' greatest fear. I can't tell you, sorry."  
  
They nodded dubiously, and James regained his strict Captain composure. Sirius walked in the door, glaring at James and smoothing his hair back.  
  
"Honestly, Prongs, you needn't've done that. You just had to prod me awake, I was just resting my eyes."  
  
~*~  
  
"Okay, listen up, Gryffindors!!" James puffed up his chest proudly as he walked onto the pitch.  
  
"Sirius'll be handling the Beaters, over to those three goals." Some students headed to the direction of James' outstretched finger and followed Sirius.  
  
"Mantra and I will watch the Chasers over here. Keepers, come back after lunch," James said, wiping sweat off his brow. He turned to look at the bleachers; Clara and Dana were watching and waved to a person trying out.  
  
"Hi, Mantra! James," Lily said, giving a curt nod to James to acknowledge his presence. She'd been a little cold and tried to avoid him after the Alice incident.  
  
Mantra said, "Hey, Lils! You're up against some pretty good guys: Brent Bell, Fred Johnson and Mark Spinnet. Now, I know I can't pick favorites, but Summer and I really want another girl to join the team!"  
  
James avoided Lily's gaze and said, "I didn't know you were trying out." Before giving her time to answer, he called over the rest of the Chasers and gave them instructions.  
  
"We'll go off alphabetically. You'll be shooting the Quaffle through the hoops twenty-five times against me, as Keeper. Later, we'll pick the top five and you'll have to outnumber each other."  
  
~*~  
  
The first round went off and soon, Mantra and James were singling out the five best Chasers. Fred had scored 18 times, Mark, 16, Brent, 17, Lily, 18 and David Bludgeon 16. It was near lunchtime already; Lily's stomach kindly reminded her so.  
  
"OK, you lot! In a time of 3 minutes, we'll see how many goals you can score! Brent, you first!"  
  
The eager raven-haired boy grabbed his broomstick (Silver Arrow) and hovered high up in the air. Lily agreed, he was good. When he came back down, excited and anticipating, James grinned at him and slapped his shoulder.  
  
"Well, Brent, you're pretty good! 47 shots in!"  
  
Mantra came back down and mock-waved a fist in Brent's face, "You tire me, Bell! James I need a break, you go up there."  
  
Mark was up next. He was experienced, too, and Lily knew it wasn't a joke when Mantra told her they were good. Panting, he arrived after three minutes went by, vigorously throwing the Quaffle as hard as he could through James.  
  
"Very nice, Mark, you got 49 in!" Mantra applauded Mark politely and then turned to Brent. "Sorry, Brent, better luck next time. Pretty great moves, though!"  
  
The disappointed but satisfied Brent went off after giving a little salute to the castle, hoping to get some food and rest. Lily was sorry to see him go. She cast a peek at Clara and Dana; their heads were piled on top of the others', dead asleep. She gave a tinkling laugh and focused on David Bludgeon, who was rapidly shooting the scarlet medium-sized ball through the golden hoops.  
  
Coming down to earth, he hadn't beaten Mark's score, who stood proudly but not smugly, and was sent to the castle with bades of "Bye's!" and "Take it easy's!".  
  
Before they could turn to Fred, a scream sounded through the air coming from the west side of the field. Sirius was on his broom, a Bludger coming straight towards him, and Murielle Ventura wildly waving her bat at him. Her famous, long brown hair, which se always kept in a difficult twist, was now a pile of snakes.  
  
"Arghh! I was just kiddin' Murielle!"  
  
He was pelting around the pitch now, wildly trying to avoid the Bludger.  
  
"Oh, really, Black? Turn it back, NOW!!" She said in a fit of rage, trying to catch up with the scarlet blur that was Sirius black.  
  
He was panicking now, it was one of the spells the Marauders had invented. These spells had no counter-curse, you had to figure out what to do to get it off. Like the monkey-face curse, where they tested it out on Snape, he had to run around with his boxers in the Gryffindor Common Room, screaming, "I like bananas!" twice. Or like the bunny tail and hopping curse, where you had to sing the American National Anthem while brushing your teeth with cheese and peanut butter, this one was on Malfoy.  
  
"I don't know! Try doing something, besides trying to kill me!" Sirius got out of the speeding Bludger's way just in time to hear it whiz through his robes.  
  
The Chaser group chuckled and went back to what they were doing, already used to Sirius' antics. Fred was up next and he mounted his broom, exhilaration flowing through him. He shot 51 times, missing one shot as Sirius, the Bludger and Murielle came streaking past him.  
  
Mark looked down for a moment there, but after a pat on the back from James, some cheering up by Lily and Mantra, he was soon going up the pathway to Hogwarts, ready to take a break.  
  
It was Lily against Fred; Clara and Dana were awoken by Sirius' screams and Murielle's fierce whacking bat sounds. They cheered the timid Lily on.  
  
It was only her second time flying, but it was like she was a pro. She didn't care much for Quidditch but flying! Oh, she never wished all her life that she wasn't as not well off as her family was, sure, they could afford to send Petunia to the local high school and Lily to Hogwarts, but they couldn't afford to but a broom. Lily loved flying as much as she was in love with James.  
  
Flying took away her sorrows about not fitting in, worries about being a geek and nerdy for being too smart and her problems about not looking good enough for James.  
  
It was exhilarating.  
  
One day I'll fly away  
  
It set her spirit free.  
  
Leave all this to yesterday  
  
She knew no bounds, no barriers to where she could lift her spirit.  
  
Why live life from dream to dream  
  
When she'd land, a piece of her was gone.  
  
And dread the day.when dreaming...ends.  
  
"Evans! Lils, earth to Lillian Rose Evans!" Mantra waved her hands over Lily's dreamy face as her hands clutched the school's old Shooting Star.  
  
"Wha- What? Huh?" Lily's mind snapped back to reality.  
  
Mantra sighed as James shook his head, causing his floppy hair to fall onto his eyes. "Why don't you wipe that expression of your face, get your bum up there and score some goals?"  
  
She turned to James and asked, "Are you going to be my Keeper?"  
  
He nodded and rose to the hoops, Lily in tow. Mantra kept on the ground, shouting instructions, with Fred.  
  
"Get ready, Lils! 5, 4, 3, 2, and go!"  
  
Lily rounded up James' left side and quickly swerved to the right, scoring as many goals as she can. She did this for as many times as she could, using different techniques she'd caught on while listening to the Marauders.  
  
James was guarding the hoops like crazy, but he couldn't block most of her shots. 'Wow, I never knew she was this good. I mean, look at her,' James thought. 'It's only her second time flying, for putting Malfoy's boxers on a flagpole!'  
  
After what seemed like forever, Mantra whistled and called to James and Lily, both panting, Lily with a look of pure and utter delight on her face and James, a scowl mixed with amazement and admiration.  
  
"Lily, I'd no idea! Sorry Mark, she got 53 in!! Congratulations, Lils!" She cried, patting her on the back softly and placing a comforting hand on Mark's arm before he left.  
  
"Wow, Lily Flower! You're sure gonna kick some Slytherin bums! Practice is in two day's, after classes," James said, a grin plastered on his sweaty face.  
  
Lily beamed as she took in the good news. She'd be flying pretty often over the next few months.  
  
~*~  
  
"Miss Evans, please go to the Headmaster after finishing your meal. Thank you," McGonagall said to Lily the morning after the try-outs. Murielle still hadn't found a way to return her hair back to normal and was torturing Sirius every time she got the chance. Her friends had been ecstatic when she told them that she got into the team.  
  
"Well, I better get it over and done with. I'll see you guys later in class, and tell Professor Sprout I might be late. Bye!" Lily hopped off with her school bag dangling around her robes.  
  
'I know where Dumbledore's office is, but what's his password?' Lily wondered as she reached the gargoyle. She stood there for a few minutes, naming all the sweets she could think of when finally, Dumbledore appeared as he walked with Professor Flitwick.  
  
"Ah, Miss Evans. I'll be with you shortly," he turned to the tiny dwarf- like professor. "I'll see you in our staff meeting later, Christian?"  
  
The gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside when Dumbledore said the password, (Ice Mice!) and a staircase descended to their level. After seating comfortably and each petting Fawkes, who trilled high notes beautifully, they went to business.  
  
"Miss Evans, I daresay you know that our other Gryffindor prefect, Alexia Cruin has moved to Beauxbatons?"  
  
Lily nodded her confirmation.  
  
"We would like to ask you to if you want to be our next Prefect, seeing as we only have Mr. Potter now."  
  
She gasped and registering this through her brain, Lily accepted. (A/n: Comeon, obviously she would!! :p)  
  
"Yes sir, I think I will."  
  
"Good, Miss Evans, now we'll tell you of your duties during our next Prefect meeting on Saturday. The password to the Prefect bathroom is "Judd Rebullida". My congratulations on making the Quidditch team."  
  
Lily was amazed at how he always knew things about his students and answered polietely before getting up to leave, "Thank you sir. I'll be going now, could you please write an excuse to Prof. Sprout for me?"  
  
After leaving with her not to set off for the greenhouses, Lily skipped along the gravel path thinking how lucky she was to have received such good news after a depressing incident. 


	12. Lily's Accident

November passed by without much incident, except for Dumbledore announcing that there would be a Yule Ball as Lily and her friends expected, and the few Quidditch games, between Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. They had an upcoming game of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.  
  
Lily was enjoying her fifth year, where as she expected, the lessons were harder and much more interesting, even in History o Magic, hence it was still boring, but she didn't find herself falling asleep as often as before. Charms was still her best subject, and was doing fairly well in her other classes. Quidditch practices were okay; Lily didn't care much for the game but for the flying.  
  
James hadn't been attending the Prefect meetings every other Friday, and according to his friends, had no idea what went on during the meetings since he'd never been to one, but Lily, the smart girl she was, made sure not to miss any meeting and tried her best to come up with ideas. Her friends, new and old, were keeping her days filled with humor and stories that made her slide off hr chair from laughing so hard.  
  
The Marauders were planning a big prank against the Slytherins, and they wanted Lily to help, since it involved some complicated charm work, at, they were doing a great job of annoying the Slytherins, and amusing the rest of the school, except Pringle. They were currently serving their forty- eight detention for fight Snape and Malfoy again.  
  
Two days before the Gryffindor-Ravenclaw game, during lunch before their Care of Magical Creatures class in which they were due to start learning about Jobberknolls, who weren't that dangerous, an important looking owl carrying an important looking letter flew through the doors of the Great Hall.  
  
Everyone and everything went silent, for there was rarely any owls that arrived with a letter other than breakfast, and it usually carried a message of bad news, that someone else close in your family has been murdered by Lord Voldemort.  
  
"I wonder who it's for.Hope it isn't me," Clara whispered to the pale Lily, who like all the other Muggleborns in the school, were frightened and motionless at the moment.  
  
It circled the air a few times, looking for the receiver, and finally it landed, to a second-year in Hufflepuff. He looked horrified and everyone watched him open the envelope bearing two overlapping M's, the Ministry of Magic's sign.  
  
"No!!" The young boy was given sympathetic looks as he gave a cry of anguish and ran from the Great Hall. Professor Sprout, his House's Head, went after him. Voldemort had struck again.  
  
~*~  
  
Their days went ahead and soon it was a week before the Yule Ball. Girls had been flocking up to James, Sirius and Remus and inviting them to the Ball. Each politely turned them down, well, as politely as you could expect from Sirius.  
  
Lily still didn't have a date, though some guys had asked her out, including Severus Snape to Lily, she'd been teased mercilessly for a few days afterward. Clara had been fancied by a Ravenclaw, Ray Chang and Dana was invited by a Hufflepuff, Martin Flinch-Fletchely. (A/N: Is that how you spell Justin's last name? forgive the mistake if it is one then.)  
  
Remus and Sirius weren't that happy with Clara and Dana's dates, considering they wanted themselves in Martin and Ray's positions. Sirius decided to go with a Ravenclaw, Marianne Cruz, that in his opinion, was a great snog but too much serious in studying (Dana had wrinkled her nose when Sirius announced this), not at all fitting for someone who had a reputation as Sirius. Remus was going with Clarissa Dunt, the Prefect from Hufflepuff (Clara wasn't that happy, either). Peter was going with Perpetua Drindone, the other Prefect from Slytherin.  
  
There was to be another Hogsmeade visit soon, and Lily wanted to see what happened to the village after the attack.  
  
"It's a wonderful day, nothing unpleasant has happened today! Quidditch is in five hours, I've been practicing my moves very well, I just passed Transfiguration with flying colors and Hogsmeade visit this weekened!" Sang out James, merrily after having a very easy time during a Transfiguration pop quiz, whilst most of his classmates were groaning about how they knew they failed it, the day of the Quidditch match.  
  
Sirius heard James' comment, and was in a grumpy mood himself, conjured up some apple pie (a trick he made up, it was very useful to someone who had an appetite like him) and smashed it in James' face.  
  
"Padfoot, you bastard! What was that?!" Yelled the now angry and pie-faced James, outraged.  
  
The girls, Remus and Peter hadn't noticed this yet, still moaning about the quiz and lagging their lazy feet to the Greta Hall for lunch, but some Hufflepuff girls were shooting daggers at Sirius, whose mood was now lifted.  
  
He grinned at them cheekily and ignored James. Remus was looking more tired than before, it was going to be a full moon tonight.  
  
James suddenly remembered this and pulled the rest of the Marauders aside, giving the girls the excuse of going to the boy's restroom, as he also had to wash his face off. He dragged his friends to a corridor that was always abandoned and said, "Full moon tonight, eh boys? Well, the potion's nearly complete, we just have to add a little more lacewings to it and we'll be Animagi later. Think of all the fun we could have, Remus!"  
  
Remus sighed contentedly, and said in a very grateful tone, "Thanks, you guys. You're the best friends I wished I had when I was a kid. Thanks for risking your lives for me."  
  
Peter had some tears forming in his eyes, James was touched and Sirius, being Sirius, ruined the mood, again. "Aww, don't turn on the waterworks on us, Moony, old pal!"  
  
Laughing, hearts much lighter than before, they went to eat lunch with the girls.  
  
~*~  
  
"Good afternoon, Hogwarts!!! Welcome to this season's fifth Quidditch match, Gryffindor against Ravenclaw!!" A sixth-year Gryffindor, Judd Patil was commentating. Professor McGonagall loomed closely, to watch and warn the very much biased Gryffindor. "It's a great day, with the blue shies, few fluffy clouds and our favorite team facing against Ravenclaw!"  
  
Two doors on the ground burst open and Patil excitedly announced the Ravenclaw team. "And from Ravenclaw, Chang(Seeker), Santos(Keeper), Abela(Chaser), Boot(Beater), King(Beater), Andrews(Chaser) and Captain Alisa Hunter(Chaser) They only have two new players, Abela replacing his older brother for Chaser and King replacing our star Beater, Lance Valencia!!!"  
  
One side of the pitch cheered madly for their house mates. "And from Gryffindor, we have Wood (Keeper), Dence(Seeker), O'Donnell(Chaser), Thomas(Beater), Evans(Chaser) and Captain James Potter(Chaser)!! This year, Lily Evans for Chaser, Patrick Wood for Keeper and Sean Thomas for Beater!! Lions rule!"  
  
Professor McGonagall sighed, "Patil, judge fairly and don't be too biased or I will take that magnified phone from you personally."  
  
"Aww, Prof. McGonagall, I was just expressing my support for my House," he yelled in the microphone. "And Madam Quince releases the balls, there goes the Quaffle, watch out, Bludgers and finally, the tiny golden Snitch! And they're off, potter of Gryffindor catches the Quaffle- nice, James- and passes it to- oh, no, Hunter of Ravenclaw intercepts it and gives it to Abela. Ooh, dropped the Quaffle as a Bludger nearly misses his chest, caught by Evans of Gryffindor, nice Bludger work there, Black, next time hit the target!"  
  
"Patil, I'm warning you!" McGonagall eyed the excited boys warily.  
  
"Sorry, Prof, McGonagall, no harm done, I presume, back to the game! Evans heading straight for the Ravenclaw goalposts, she moves to the left and quickly swerves to the right, and scores! Santos, didn't see that coming, did you? Better luck next time- O'Donnell has the Quaffle, ouch, Bludger there to her left arm sent by Boot and King. Nasty cheating bastar- oops, I meant gits really Professor. Anyway, Quaffle taken by Hunter again, passes to Andrews, to Abela, back to Andrews and to Hunter again and she shoots, she scores! 10-10 score!"  
  
James hadn't been actively playing but now he was pumped up for the game. Weaving in through Hunter, King, Lily and Mantra, he stole the Quaffle right out of the unsuspecting Andrews' hands.  
  
"Whoa, go James! Right out of your hands, Andrews!" Patil shouted out gleefully. Andrews, who had quite a short temper, flashed the rude finger at him, and luckily, McGonagall wasn't paying attention as she was fixing her hat, which almost got whisked away by the hurrying Bludger.  
  
James took his chance of scoring and aimed at the middle goal, fooling Santos that he was about to shoot to the left.  
  
"Great work their, Potter! Score is 20-10 to Gryffindor!"  
  
The game continued for some fifteen minutes and sometime later, when the score was 70-50 Ravenclaw, Patil jumped up and swore so suddenly.  
  
"Holy sh--! Damn! Isn't that the Golden Snitch?" He roared, pointing.  
  
The crowd went deathly silent as the two teams' Seekers dove for a particular spot near a Hufflepuff stand. Nobody noticed the dark-cloaked man who had appeared and muttered an incantation to bewitch a Bludger.  
  
Both Seekers were neck to neck and Summer was reaching out her hand but then, it suddenly disappeared.  
  
The students gave a disappointed sigh and the players resumed their game.  
  
"Too bad, and score is still 70-50 Ravenclaw, oh not anymore, O'Donnell scores. Now, 70-60 Ravenclaw. A Bludger seems to be following Evans, here."  
  
The teachers present were frantically worrying, as Bludgers were only supposed to unseat as many players as they can, and not follow a particular person. Madame Quince had called time-out but no one saw her signals, they were too enthralled watching Lily try to avoid the Bludger.  
  
Lily had never been more terrified than she was now in her whole entire life. The Bludger behind her was speeding fast, and she could hear its wheezing sounds. She flew to the right, to the left anywhere, except it wouldn't leave her alone. She flew behind a Gryffindor stand, and even that didn't stop the Bludger from trying to kill her, it went straight through the stands, causing the students on it to cry out in alarm.  
  
"Lily! Watch out!" James yelled, he'd been keeping contact of Lily, flyin as close to her as the Bludger would allow.  
  
Lily turned to him too late, the Bludger hit her straight in her head. 


	13. Dumbldore's Warning

Lily felt lightheaded. She took in her surroundings and realized she didn't know where she was. It was foggy everywhere. She thought back and remembered the Quidditch game. The rouge Bludger! It'd been chasing her.  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
Lily looked behind her as she heard Judd Patil say that a Bludger seemed to be following her. Indeed, there was a Bludger and it was hurtling at top speed to hit her. She accelerated and went about twenty or so more feet into the air. It wasn't the same dreamy experience she'd always felt, this time she was fighting to stay on the broom, something she never had to do before.  
  
'What's happening?! Bludgers aren't supposed to do this!' She thought frantically as she hid behind a Gryffindor bleacher.  
  
CRACK! Pieces of wood and some red banner material fell tumbling to the earth as the Bludger forced its way through the Gryffindor bleacher.  
  
'Oh, god! What's happening?!' Lily swerved to the right to avoid the insane ball.  
  
"Lily! Watch out!" James shouted. She looked back and got hit in the head.  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
"Aren't I supposed to be in the Hospital Wing?" Lily wondered out loud. Laughter rang out behind Lily, she cringed, it was the same laughter she'd heard in her dream, two months before. One could never forget Voldemort's laughter, even after a long period of time, it was just one of the things you had to live with for the rest of your life.  
  
"You!" Lily hissed, spinning around on her heel.  
  
"Me," Voldemort said. There he stood; clad in black robes, his skin all pale, his red eyes tiny slits and his nose barely two holes in his face. (A/N: Juts had to add that part in!)  
  
"What do you want from me? Where am I?" Lily asked, frightened yet at the same time determined not to fall prey for Voldemort.  
  
He clucked mockingly and shook his head. "Ah, Miss Evans. I was stubborn and bullheaded too before, like you are now. It does not do good sometimes, but at other instances, it comes in handy, as well," he stroked her cheek with an ice cold finger.  
  
Lily shuddered; the place wasn't cold at all, except Voldemort seemed to give off a chilly air around him. Her cheek went numb and she rubbed it forcefully to bring back some warmth.  
  
"How do you know my name?"  
  
"Ah, but Miss Evans. I know all there is to know about you. You're in your fifth year at Hogwarts, you got accelerated. Your birthday is on April 17, 1959. Your parents are Edward and Iris Evans, your sister Petunia Dahlia Evans. Your best friends, Dana Summers and Clara Bent. You are also close with the Marauders, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. I can state all points you've lost and earned for Gryffindor, your House. I can list all your test scores, all your work's awards. But I'd rather not, it's to be too long, and I don't have much time for what I am about to do," he said.  
  
Lily was surprised. How can a person know so much about her, was he stalking/spying on her? She found her voice and said, "What is it you're to do to me?"  
  
He chuckled, Voldemort knew she was fearing him already. 'Such weaklings.'  
  
"Well, Lily, (she flinched) let's just say I'm here to warn you. The dream you've had about me? You're not to tell anyone about those dreams or else you'll be in trouble. I must leave."  
  
He Disapparated. So that was him, in her dream, she thought, understanding.  
  
"Lily, wake up."  
  
"Lils, I hope you're ok."  
  
"Oh, damn, I'm going to kill whoever bewitched that Bludger."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Lily, please wake up."  
  
"Lily Flower, please, please, be all right."  
  
Was she hearing her friends' thoughts? Suddenly, Lily felt a hard tug and she was pulled forward.  
  
~*~  
  
"Heavens, me! She's awake, Madame Prinuella!" The familiar stern voice of Professor McGonagall broke the eerie silence in the Hospital Wing.  
  
Her friends, who were lapsed in silence, and therefore had fallen asleep, jerked awake fast. They bombarded the drowsy Lily fast. "Are you all right?" "You okay, Lils?" "Are you hungry?" (Obvious who asked that question at a time like this) and finally, Madame Prinuella, "Excuse me, but this is my Hospital Wing. She needs rest, out, out! You'll see her in fifteen minutes or so, now go!"  
  
Her friends, disgruntled, trooped out, promising to visit her as soon as Madame Prinuella allowed them to. As the nurse checked her up, Lily couldn't help but wonder why Professor McGonagall was there, Quidditch accidents happened quite often and she never was present at the room where the injured students was, waiting for him/her to wake.  
  
"Professor, no meaning to be rude, but why are you here?"  
  
The elderly women both looked at each other, exchanging a silent conversation. "You've been out for three days and three nights now, Professor Dumbledore just wanted me to check you up. I best be going now."  
  
She hurried out of the room before Lily could ask any more questions, and there was a very pregnant pause between Madame Prinuella and Lily. After finishing her check up, the nurse allowed Lily's friends to see her.  
  
When her tow best friends saw her, they gave and anguished cry.  
  
"Lils, oh Lils! We thought that you wouldn't."  
  
"We thought that you were going to."  
  
The boys had positively pale faces and when Sirius spoke, his voice was strangled. "I'm sorry, Lily. I don't know who ever cursed that damn Bludger but I'll make him pay, I swear, I will."  
  
"Have you seen yourself yet? You look terrible!" Peter said, and realizing how this sounded, as the others laughed, he apologized sheepishly. "Sorry."  
  
They gave her a mirror and a person unknown to herself looked back at Lily. There was a large bandage wrapped around her head, stained with lots of blood, and her face looked bloodless, she was so pale.  
  
"Dumbledore's trying to figure it out, but I reckon he already knows who did it, he just doesn't want us to know, but quite frankly, if I ever find out, I swear I'll rip him to sheds," Sirius made a violent motion in the air.  
  
James shook his head mockingly and said, "Now, now, Padfoot, none of that. Lily Flower, you're to come with me to Professor Dumbledore's office later in half an hour. I'll be waiting to escort you."  
  
Lily blushed at the thought of James and her walking alone and said, "Sure. Now, Sirius, I'd like to take up your offer of breakfast. D'you have any?"  
  
Remus piped in before Sirius could answer, "Knowing him, he has food everywhere, including his inside pockets that he had his mother sew on his robes just to carry food around."  
  
Amidst the laughter, Sirius looked highly offended, "Moony, I did not make my mother sew them on for me. She forced me to sew them on myself, see?"  
  
~*~  
  
James and Lily walked in silence to the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office. She was still feeling a bit weak, she didn't trust her legs, and Madame Prinuella almost force d her to go to Dumbledore in a wheelchair but she didn't want that shame so the nurse made James support her. Lily took a brave stab at making conversation  
  
"So, James, who's your girlfriend for this week?"  
  
"Aretha Ryan. Gryffindor fourth year," he answered plainly.  
  
"Are you bringing her to the Yule Ball?" Lily dreaded his answer, though she knew what it was gonna be.  
  
"Yeah, I asked her last week. She couldn't resist my charm. How 'bout you, Lily Flower? Are you bringing Sevvy?"  
  
She blushed.  
  
"Oh no, I turned him down. I think I'll go alone."  
  
"Why? Sevvy's so handsome and gorgeous, his hair's to die for, his nose is sooo gorgeous and his teeth are so perfect! What's wrong with him?" He listed things down on his fingers one bye one, mocking a girl.  
  
"Oh, James, stop that! Girls aren't like that at all," she defended her gender.  
  
James was about to retort back something when their Headmaster stepped out of his office and bid them a good evening, beckoning for them to go inside his office.  
  
"Good evening, Mr. Potter, Miss Evans. Right on time, I should say. Please, come in," he led the two Prefects into his domain.  
  
"Miss Evans, the Bludger incident was not accidental-"  
  
James rose to his feet, "What d'you mean, Professor, that someone wanted Lily to get hurt or even possibly die? Who the hell?'  
  
"Mr. Potter, language. ("Sorry, Professor.") Well, I must say, it was quite difficult to see what Dark Curse that person had placed on the Bludger so it would follow Miss Evans, but I, along with Professor McGonagall and Professor Dunpoint (DADA Teacher) figured it out," he said, folding his hands importantly.  
  
Lily was troubled. "Who did it, sir and what curse was it?"  
  
"Well, my dear, best not to tell you right now who was responsible but the curse was obviously one he invented. He seems to bewitch an offending item of any sort, and sets it to track and try to kill or injure a person in a time limit," Dumbledore said gravely.  
  
Lily gasped and James looked horrified. "Sir, who could possibly want me killed?"  
  
"That I cannot tell you my dear. Everything will unravel itself in time," he said, getting up. "Just make sure never to stray far without the company of your friends, it is very dangerous these days, along with the new Dark power arising."  
  
James blurted out, unable to control himself, "But Lily's just a Muggleborn! Why would anyone want her?"  
  
Dumbledore sighed tiredly, "As I said, Mister Potter, everything will explain itself in its own due course. Now, go along to lunch, rest today (it was a Saturday) and prepare for the Hogsmeade visit tomorrow for the Yule Ball."  
  
Before they could utter anymore protests, questions or comments, he shooed them off to their common room. Lily and James made their way to Gryffindor Tower, each subdued in their own thoughts. 


	14. Hogsmeade Again!

"Lillers! Hogsmeade visit in just seven hours!" Clara bounced on Lily's bed. She groaned, her mouth still had that morning icky taste; and when she opened her eyes, the bright sunlight nearly blinded her.  
  
Glancing at the magical clock on their vanity table, Lily moaned pitifully and dove under the safety chambers of her covers again, ready to sleep for another half hour or so. "Clara, the others aren't awake yet, and it's only half past five in the morning! How'd you get in here? What's the sun doing up so early?"  
  
Her blonde friend grinned, "Oh, your "sunlight" was just my very bright "Lumos" spell! I suppose we could go back to sleep for a little while and-"  
  
But Lily was out of sight already, she had seized her chance and had taken refuge in her comfy bed.  
  
Clara returned to her room and went to sleep. ~*~  
  
1 hour later.  
  
Dana Summers looked around her dorm. Two beds had their curtains drawn (Alice and Hazel) while the other one (Clara's) had hers slightly open. 'Hmm.what would be a good day to wake them up? Better ask Sirius.' She made her way to the boy's dorm.  
  
Back at the boy's dorm at the same time.  
  
Sirius Black yawned and stretched his arms out. His three friends' beds were filled with snores, Peter's being the loudest. Their last dorm mate, Frank Longbottom, was eating breakfast early, as usual. He wanted to wake them up with a bang; Sirius was so excited for all the fun they'd have later on in Hogsmeade. 'I'll consult Dana if she has some good ideas.' He picked thorugh the dirty clothes littering their floor.  
  
At the common room, Christian and Satine meet.(hehe!)  
  
"Ow, Dana!"  
  
"Shut up, Siri, you'll wake up the whole Gryffindor Tower!"  
  
The two mischief-makers bumped into each other. They eyed each other suspiciously and Dana asked Sirius, "Say, what're you doing up so early this morning?"  
  
He shot back, "I could ask you the same question."  
  
"I'll tell you if you tell me. I was going to the boy's room-"  
  
Sirius had a glint in his eye. "What for?"  
  
She sighed exasperatedly, "Sirius, you have such a sick imagination. I do nothing of the sort, I was going there to ask you something."  
  
Sirius decided to keep on playing, just to get under Dana's skin. "Couldn't wait until tonight, could you, lovey?"  
  
She slapped him, HARD. Of all the things Dana Summers hated, it was a person who was perverted and green-minded. "Shut up already. I want to know if you have any good ideas to wake up the whole Tower."  
  
Sirius rubbed his cheek, a pout playing on his nicely-toned face. "You needn't've done that. Never mind, I wanted to do the same thing. Why don't we-"  
  
He told her the plan. She nodded gleefully.  
  
"And so we-"  
  
"Then we-"  
  
"And finally they-"  
  
"PERFECT!" They finished together, laughing at the future looks-to-be on their friends' faces.  
  
~*~  
  
A large bell rang out through the Tower loudly, for about three minutes. Lily woke up with the sunlight (real sunlight this time) streaming through her room's window. She sniffed the air and anticipated the sweet smell of honey that the house-elves sprayed the rooms with and instead, smelled.ants?  
  
As a child, Lily was an outdoors person. She would go camping with her father, even after Petunia refused to go out and get her "perfectly manicured nails" dirty. She always played with frogs, butterflies, beetles, and all other insects, and spent her days around anthills, thus becoming prone to their distinctive smells.  
  
She looked around and gasped. Her fellow fifth years' beds hangings were open and she could see them clearly. They were covered in whipped cream and there were large sacks on top and Lily felt smug; she was going to warn her friends.  
  
"Mantra, Jamian, Cassie, Paige! Wake up!" She called from her bed, not daring to move.  
  
Her friends were roused awake and Lily warned them to stop. "The Marauders have been visiting. Don't move."  
  
It was too late. Jamian (who hadn't noticed the whipped cream) had stood up to brush her hair (which she cared a lot about), and having no idea of what as going on, she slipped on some goo on the floor. Her screams woke up the other three who Lily desperately tried to signal to stop. They rushed over to Jamian and slipped as well. While flailing her arms around wildly, Cassie managed to drag Lily down somehow.  
  
The inevitable happened, pandemonium rose in all the dorms (apparently, Dana and Sirius decided to wake them up, too, the unfortunate souls) and Paige tripped over some string (that triggered the big tub of honey magically levitating bout nine feet in the air) while trying to stand up. In less than a second, the five girls were covered in honey.  
  
Someone muttered a few well-chosen words and they were covered in feathers. Suddenly, the whole mess cleared up and their room was back to normal, but they still looked like chickens.  
  
The five girls looked at each other angrily, and stomped out of their dorm, down the stairs, down the short hall and into the Common Room, where some students looked like them, too, attention centered on the hysterical Sirius and Dana.  
  
"Ahem!" A seventh year's hands were on her hips and she looked mad, not that the others didn't.  
  
Alice was wailing. "Oh, this is gonna be so hard to get out. You'll pay Sirius Black, you too, Dana Summers! Seriously, Hazel, I can't imagine why you'd like him!"  
  
Hazel looked mortified but covered it up. "As of now, I don't!"  
  
Paige was trying to clear her face; Jamian, her hair; Cassie and Mantra, as much of their body as they could. Chaos broke out and suddenly the Marauders came out, looking perfectly normal.  
  
"What's the noise abou- What the hell?"  
  
Sirius couldn't stop laughing and Dana managed to sputter out, "Gotcha!" while weakly clutching her stomach and pointing at everyone who was covered.  
  
Lily marched forward, grabbed Dana's pajamas' collar, dragged her to a side, with everyone watching them, and whispered in her ear.  
  
Dana motioned to Sirius and with a disapproving looks thrown upon them, they undid the spell. Now, only the sweet smell of honey remained.  
  
People, satisfied, went back to their dorm rooms to change for Hogsmeade. James, Remus and Peter still looked confused.  
  
"What the heck did you do, Padfoot, Dana?"  
  
Sirius and Dana glanced at each other again and burst out laughing.  
  
The others who'd remained rolled their eyes.  
  
~*~  
  
Lily carefully counted her money in her money sack, being cautious not to spill any Galleons, Sickles or Knuts. Her parents weren't rich enough to but a broom but they were pretty well off. They'd given her some cash to but a new set of dress robes and about 25 Galleons for jewelry.  
  
"So, where d'you lot want to go first?" James asked. They were already in Hogsmeade, it had been repaired, and all traces of Voldemort and his gang of Death Eaters were gone. True, the villagers were a little more subdued and less merrier than usual, but a Hogsmeade visit was a Hogsmeade visit, and the students had to buy dress robes for the Yule Ball.  
  
The girls gave each other knowing looks and giggled. "Well, I don't know about you four, but Lily, Dana and I are going to Gladrag's, the after some Butterbeer and finally, a make-over in the newly opened shop over there, Stephanie Stanley's Salon for Students."  
  
The guys looked disgusted. "What the heck are you girls doing, ruining a perfectly fine afternoon in Hogsmeade at a salon?" Sirius grumbled.  
  
The girls ignored them and left the boys quickly, talking about who was going with who in the Yule Ball. After a bit of walking, they arrived at Gladrag's, where a witch clad in the latest styles hurried to them. Lily saw some of her classmates from Hogwarts and waved.  
  
"Good afternoon, girls! I bet you're here to shop for dress robes, aren't you? I'm Natasha Stanley and I'll be helping you today. What are your names?" The pretty, young woman shook each of their hands in turn as each of the three girls introduced themselves. Lily decided she liked Natasha, albeit the perky appearance.  
  
Tasha, as she insisted they called her, studied Lily, Clara and Dana. After a while she turned to Dana first.  
  
"Clara, Lily, you don't mind if I go to Dana first, do you?" After a quick shake of their heads, she dragged Dana by her upper arm to a stack of bright pink robes. Dana looked horrified and begged silently to her friends, who were shaking with suppressed laughter.  
  
"Oh no, dear, you must think these are for you! Well, I'm not that bad in picking out robes for you. This is the reject row, I was just looking for my measuring tape and my wand," Tasha laughed.  
  
The older girl pushed Dana into a private room and after a while, both had triumphant and pleased looks on their faces.  
  
"Well?" Clara asked impatiently.  
  
"Well what?" Dana countered.  
  
Lily asked, "Where's your dress robes?"  
  
Tasha said, "Dana thought it'd be a nice surprise if you girls would just show each other your dress robes on the day of the Ball."  
  
Lily wanted to see them now but agreed; she wanted a surprise a little. Clara's turn came and went and soon, it was Lily's turn. She had to admit, Tasha was a very good designer; she had a great fashion sense. She couldn't wait for the Yule Ball.  
  
'I'm gonna knock James' socks off.Wait a minute,' her thoughts as she twirled around in all elegance of her dress robes came to halt. 'Why should I care about knocking James' socks off? I'm over him already, I'm over him already.'  
  
They (Lily, Clara, Dana and Tasha) looked for some shoes and jewelry to go with their dresses. IN the end, Dana ended up with ecru open heels, and bought a gold bracelet with a heart for a charm and a simple necklace to match with it, Clara's shoes were heels with complicated strings that looked elegant around her thin ankles, and her jewelry was similar to Dana's except the charm was a bird (she loved them).  
  
Lily loved her choices. Her shoes were green and the straps were even more complicated, which brought out her ankles, too. They were very high-cut, the heels, and therefore, Tasha pronounced them to be "stilettos". Her necklace was a gold lace, with a small but large enough to be seen emerald stone set in the center. Her bracelet, however, were designed with lilies entwining each other.  
  
"Very chic," Clara commented, eyeing their new pairs of shoes eagerly.  
  
Dana nodded, and asked, "Lils, so who're you going with?"  
  
Lily shrugged this off, "I don't know. I'll think I'll go alone. I could even dance with Severus.."  
  
The two cousins looked abashed. "Lily. Snape? Lily, this is Snape we're talking about. The Severus Snape you've hated for years. The Severus Snape who makes your life miserable. The Severus Snape who you turned down!" shrieked Dana.  
  
Lily shook her head. "Sorry, Dana, none of these accusations are correct. First, I haven't hated him I like him, he's my friend, I was just afraid you'd shun me since you lot really hate him. Second, he only makes your lives miserable; he always spares me from the humiliation. And third, I did turn him down, but I said I'd dance with him."  
  
Clara said, "Don't try changing her mind, Dana. She's a redhead and you know how they are."  
  
Lily pretended to look hurt. "You say that like it's a bad thing."  
  
Dana grinned. "It is."  
  
Just before Lily could say something else to defend redheads, Tasha came bustling along with their own separate bags, and they looked quite small.  
  
Lily eyed her bag doubtingly and said, "Er, Tasha?"  
  
"Yes, Lily? Anything wrong?" the salesgirl asked.  
  
Lily held out her bag. "Aren't our dress robes going to get crumpled with our shoes? These bags are kind of small."  
  
To her surprise and slight annoyance, Tasha laughed. "Oh no, Lily. Girls, these are magically enlarged bags. Inside, your dress robes are in a box, your shoes in another and your jewelry with our complimentary velvet jewelry sack. You can take a look!"  
  
Indeed, their bags were large enough to put a standing lamp in and still have room for another, but on the outside, it was the normal shopping bag. Thanking Tasha for her help and paying the clerk, the trio left and headed for the Three Broomsticks.  
  
~*~  
  
After an eventful drink in the Three Broomsticks, in which the Marauders were wreaking havoc as usual, this time setting off some large Dungbombs in some of the students' Butterbeers, causing their drinks to explode in their faces and leaving a very disgusting stench, the three girls (who, thank the heavens, were spared from the four boys' trick) went to Stephanie Stanley's Salon for Students.  
  
Just like at Gladrag's, a girl who looked suspiciously like Tasha bustled over to them. She even wore almost the same clothes as Tasha.  
  
"Good afternoon, girls! I bet you're here to get ready for next week's ball, aren't you? I'm Stephanie Stanley and I'll be helping you today. What are your names?" And like Tasha, Stephanie shook each of their hands in turn as they introduced themselves again.  
  
Lily asked, "Excuse me, Stephanie-"  
  
"Um, please call me Steph," she cut in.  
  
Lily continued, "All right, then, Steph, are you related to Natasha Stanley at Gladrag's down the street?"  
  
She gave a tinkling laugh and said, "Yes, in fact, she's my twin sister. Have you met her?"  
  
"Yes, we've. So, what are your courses?" Clara asked.  
  
Steph handed them her menu.  
  
Stephanie Stanley's Salon for Students 1. Nail Treatment:  
Includes: Manicure, Pedicure and a Free Nail Polish Set of your own  
choice Price: 1 Galleon 2. Hair Treatment  
Includes: Massaging, Moisturizing and a Free Hair Care Set Price: 2 Galleons 3. Face Treatment  
Includes: Moisturizing Cream, Cold Cream, Toner, Hydrating Mask and Free  
Face  
Care Set Price: 2 Galleons Hair Cuts: Layering: 1 Galleon Straight: 10 Sickles  
  
Lily mulled this over with her friends. "Should we get everything?"  
  
Clara said, "Well, I'm getting the whole lot except I like my hair the way it is now. So, no cut for me."  
  
Dana agreed, "Me, too."  
  
Lily looked at the nearby mirror, and saw that her hair was wavy and quite uncontrolled. "I'll get my hair cut, layered. So, I'll take all the treatments and a hair cut, and you two'll just take the treatments. Are we ok?"  
  
They told Steph what they were going to take and were whisked off into a room with seven separate tables. A girl named Ira Buendia took care of Lily, Steph went to Clara and surprisingly, Tasha arrived and helped Dana. The six girls had a fun time gossiping and talking about boys, what's hot and new in the wizarding world and everything an anything under the sun.  
  
Soon, it was time for Lily's hair cut. Her auburn hair tumbled until her lower back and it was quite messy.  
  
Steph asked her, a pair of scissors in hand, "So, Lily, how short do you want me to cut it?"  
  
Lily said, "The shoulder."  
  
They rinsed her hair first, and soon, Steph was cutting away, telling Lily the story of her second cousin's girlfriend's brother's godmother's friend's sister who studied at Beauxbatons and right now, had seven boyfriends, and they all planned to take her to Beauxbaton's Winter Solstice Ball.  
  
Lily's hair was done and soon, after drying she turned to look at herself. All the girls crowded around them, oohing and aahing. It was a great piece of handiwork, as Steph put it, with the wavy curls still visible but only to make it appear soft, the sides were curvy and the bottom part flew out nicely.  
  
"Wow, Lils! You look great!"  
  
Lily touched her newly-cut hair self-consciously. "Really, now?"  
  
Clara exclaimed, "It's so pretty! The next time there's a Hogsmeade weekend, I'm coming back here to get my hair cut!"  
  
They paid Stephanie, and with many goodbyes to their new friends, Clara, Dana, and Lily looked for the Marauders. They spotted the four boys near the village circle at the fountain and made their way over. When the boys saw Lily, they stood speechless and Peter fell in the water. (a/n: haha!)  
  
"Wow! Better make sure Snape doesn't get you at the dance!"  
  
"Lily, you look nice!"  
  
"Your hair- it's- Lily Flower, whoa!"  
  
"Eek!"  
  
They laughed at Peter who was sopping wet, his blonde hair sticking to his forehead and his clothes dripping with water.  
  
Professor McGonagall announced, "Students, time to go back to Hogwarts, com with me please to the carriages."  
  
Lily and her friends shared a carriage and talked about their day (apparently, the Marauders hit not only the Three Broomsticks but Zonko's and the post office, too).  
  
As Lily sank into her bed, exhausted, she sat up, as if she had sat on some fir-hot coal and realized there were Ice Mice everywhere on her bed.  
  
Her dorm mates, too, were up, confused, with their night gowns wet at the back. They looked at each other angrily (de ja vu) and stomped down to the Common Room, were there sat, laughing-  
  
"Dana! Sirius!" 


	15. A Perfectly Fine Morning

Disclaimer: I only own all people you don't really recognize. (  
  
Author's Note: This sucks I know, I know...but still you can hardly blame me....compared to Book 5 this is nothing....by the way, I started writing this like 2 days before Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out, and I guess you could say I took a long time reading.hehe... (  
  
At 6 in the morning before the Ball found Lily, Dana and Clara sneaking out of Gryffindor Tower and heading for a well-deserved bath in the Prefect's bathroom. They took off their robes, revealing their bodies and their swim suits as well.  
  
Lily was wearing a light green bikini, Clara was sporting a one-piece blue suit and Dana had on a skimpy light gold bikini. They had a few precious hours before the dance, it started at eight o'clock that night, but Lily, as a prefect, had to go and open the dance, after the Head Boy and Girl danced their song.  
  
"I heard Anne Hermoso is going with Stanley Prewett. Won't they make a cute couple? Except, I hate Stanley's name.." Clara shuddered at the name.  
  
Dana swam a backstroke, saying in a sing song voice, "This is much better! Narcissa Windsor finally agreed to go with Malfoy.."  
  
Lily snorted in the water, accidentally inhaling some through her nose. After her coughing (mixed with laughter) subsided, she managed to spit out, "After all his chasing, flirting and coming on to her, he finally did it!"  
  
"Well, let me tell you what exactly happened.." Dana went on to tell them about that day when she was walking past the Astronomy Tower and heard Malfoy threatening Narcissa Windsor he'd push her off if she didn't agree.  
  
In their conversation, they didn't notice that the portrait guarding the Prefect's bathroom suddenly opened and three very loud taking boys strolled in, with only towels around their waists. The two groups didn't see the other until the boys took of their towels to show their tight fitting swimming trunks and dove into the large Olympic sized pool.  
  
High pitched bewildered screams filled the bathroom. "AUGH!" They desperately went lower into the pool, trying to cover their bodies as much as they could, especially Lily, she had a thing with embarrassment and attention, and currently, James, Remus and Sirius were ogling their eyes at them, disbelievingly.  
  
The boys snapped to their senses and dove under as well, trying to avert their eyes somewhere else instead of on Clara, Dana and Lily.  
  
Dana shrieked, "What are you doing here?!" as they swam away from the three stunned Marauders.  
  
Sirius stood up, enraged at Dana's accusation. "We? What are you doing here?" He didn't seem to notice that his swimsuit fell down.  
  
The girls gasped in shock and covered their eyes. Remus tugged him down, hard, and James pointed to the piece of lingerie floating on the water, hissing in Sirius' ear, "Put it back on, Padfoot mate, faster.."  
  
Sirius sheepishly grabbed the black swim suit and was soon wearing them again. He muttered under his breath, "Sorry 'bout that..told Mum these were sort of loose.."  
  
Dana, who in secret, was really peeking though her fingers, felt disappointed for a while but said heartily, "It's ok, Clar, Lils, he's decent."  
  
"What time are you girls going up to get ready for the Ball?" James asked innocently.  
  
Lily checked her watch. "We offered to help McGonagall w/ the finishing touches at around 5. We'll get ready after that, it will only take about fifteen minutes. How about you?" She felt happy, she didn't blush once. Maybe she was finally getting over James.  
  
Remus shrugged. "OH, we'll go up at about six forty-five."  
  
Clara looked shocked. "But Remus, that's only fifteen minutes! How're you going to manage that?!"  
  
Sirius slyly grinned. "We guys have our ways. Back to the subject. Would you mind getting out now?"  
  
Dana looked confused. "What d'you mean? We got here first and we're staying here for your information, Sirius Regelus Black."  
  
Lily, Clara and Remus prepared for the fight that threatened to ensue because she had said "Regelus". James sighed impatiently, he hated fights.  
  
Sure enough, Sirius rose, enraged that she had used his shared name of his brother's and his. "WE were planning this since yesterday and besides, boys are stronger." (I know that was off topic but you know how Sirius is..)  
  
Dana snorted and smugly said, "That has no connection, Siri dear, and besides that doesn't matter. First come, first serve."  
  
"It does matter, Dana dearest!"  
  
"It doesn't!"  
  
"Does too!"  
  
"Does not!"  
  
James had enough of nickering, he'd been awakened by Peter's loud snores (who was still asleep) and he had a disturbing letter from his father, about Family Matters, he didn't need anymore of this. He stood up, exposing his well-built body due to Quidditch for all to see. Lily gawked and blushed at him, not able to avert her eyes, and fortunately, he wasn't looking at her. "Shut up!"  
  
Sirius and Dana, still glaring at each other, turned to James and turned their looks to him.  
  
"Just shut it for a second ok? For the love of God, you're teenagers not toddlers! WE could all stay here!"  
  
Sirius dropped his defensive look and Dana looked appalled. James hadn't yelled at them but it was twice as worst. He was a happy-going fellow and it would only take a lot to get him annoyed. The thing was, he was usually amused by their squabbles.  
  
"Sorry, mate. What's up?" Sirius asked, patting James' bare shoulder.  
  
James looked up, his eyes dark brown, clouded over. "You know, Padfoot. Family things."  
  
Remus gave an understanding "oh!" and Sirius nodded. The girls looked at each other uncomfortably and squirmed. James caught the exchange of looks and sighed.  
  
He put on a cheerful disposition and said, "Let's just swim or do whatever you want, ok?"  
  
They murmured in agreement. Sirius and Dana sat together, about to apologize to each other. Clara and Remus went off to their own little corner, talking about who-knows-what and Lily sank into a comfortable position, off thinking intent thoughts and worries about the person who'd just taken a seat beside her.  
  
"Lily Flower," he said in his deep voice. She jumped in the air and exclaimed, "Damn, you scared the bloody hell out of me!"  
  
Lily never cursed, only in the most tying situations. If he was surprised he didn't show it.  
  
"Sorry," he chuckled. He lowered his voice. "So, did you have any more dreams lately?"  
  
She looked around carefully and told him about the dream she had of Voldemort, Nott and Goyle.  
  
"Did you have the same dream?" Lily asked.  
  
"Yeah, why didn't you tell sooner?" James asked back.  
  
Lily had never been on James' bad side and she agreed with how Sirius and Dana felt earlier. But she didn't want him to get the satisfaction of being intimidated.  
  
"Why didn't YOU tell me? Besides, you were too busy shagging Alice.."  
  
James gave a mirthless laugh. "Fine, let's drop the subject. I think we should tell Dumbledore."  
  
Lily shook her head. "No, James. Dumbledore's got a lot on his mind right now."  
  
"And how would you know hat, Lily Flower?"  
  
Lily sighed, she knew his mood was deteriorating, finally. "Well, James, I heard Dumbledore holding a staff's meeting. And apparently, this Voldemort person's rising rapidly."  
  
"I know that Lily Flower. He had a good reason to worry. But we really should tell-"  
  
"No, James, I don't want to add a load to his mind. Leave it, like you said."  
  
James was about to protest some more when a screeching came.  
  
They all turned to the painting, where the offending sound came on. Apparently, the usual mermaid was being taken by two mermen and replaced by a more regal looking mermaid.  
  
"Are they allowed to do that?" wondered Remus.  
  
"Do what, Remus?" Dana asked.  
  
"Replace the people in the pictures. Are they?"  
  
Lily said, "I'm not sure. Look, she's about to say something." Lily pointed to the regal mermaid. True, she had beat her staff upon the rock she sat on and cleared her throat loudly.  
  
"I presume you are students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I am Princess Vanessa Marcus the III. Introduce your selves."  
  
They looked at each other, all thinking the same thing, 'What the hell is going on here?!' and Princess Vanessa cleared her throat again impatiently. It was obvious that none of her friends would go first, so Lily went on.  
  
"I am Lillian Marie Evans, of Gryffindor House, fifth year."  
  
Her friends stared at her like crazy and she mouthed, 'Just do it!'  
  
James, nodding slightly, said, "My name is James Harry Potter, of Gryffindor House, fifth year," all the while thinking, 'This is a load of crap...'  
  
Sirius, however, took this as a joke, as he took everything else as a joke. "What's up, Princess?" She cast a dark look at him but kept quiet. He didn't seem to notice this. "You're looking at me, Sirius Black, famous Marauder of Hogwarts, most handsome boy Hogwarts has ever seen, of Gryffindor House, fifth year."  
  
Dana nudged his ribs with her elbow and said, "I am Dana Patricia Summers, of Gryffindor House, fourth year." She didn't know what to bow, curtsy or anything.  
  
Clara said, "My name's Clarisse Annabelle Bent, of Gryffindor House, fourth year."  
  
Remus was up last. "I am Remus John Lupin, Your Royal Highness, and I am of Gryffindor House, fifth year." He took it better than both of the boys.  
  
She seemed satisfied and nodded to each of them in turn. "As you may want to know what I am doing here, I will tell you: My father's Book of Prophecy has glowed red and one of the prophecies is about to come true. We are on a search for the heir of Serena Salazar, so if you would just stand together in a line."  
  
They quickly assembled themselves, thinking this weird and unexpected, but then again, everything was unexpected at Hogwarts, but this drew the line.  
  
"Hold it!"  
  
Princess Vanessa looked affronted at Sirius, who had interrupted her, mid- spell. "How do we know you're not a Dark mermaid, if there is such a thing?"  
  
"You will trust me, Mr. Black, and I assure you, Professor Dumbledore knows about this. Now, keep in line, All of you," she said pointedly.  
  
Sirius puffed up his chest, and thinking, 'if I live through this, I'm going to go raid the kitchens. I'm starving!'  
  
"Sereneus Heiratum Discoveria!" the Princess shouted, waving her arms over their heads.  
  
The six befuddled teenagers were encircled in a silver mist. It subsided and they looked at the Princess expectantly.  
  
"If you would face your right, please," she watched them turn to the right.  
  
She looked at their left shoulders.  
  
And gasped. 


	16. Disturbed with Talks of Magids, Seers an...

"Merlin's beard! It's her heir, I've found Serena's true heir! Oh, after 2 years of searching we've finally found her true heir!"  
  
The mermaid took them by surprise and jumped in the water, laughing and splashing about. You could see that the six Gryffindors were very, very confused. Who was it? And why did this mermaid just say she was a princess and was looking for what's-her-name's heir?  
  
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Your Highness, but who is this Serena's heir?" Sirius asked, chest covered with his crossed arms.  
  
But it seemed that the mermaid was too happy celebrating to notice them. Finally, Dana, who was a very impatient girl, shouted, "Hello! Who's the heir?"  
  
She stopped dancing and twirling about. "Why, can't you see it?"  
  
James said, "See what?"  
  
"The Edwards family's sign is on her left shoulder," pointed out Vanessa.  
  
The boys swiveled to the girls at once, checking each of their shoulders in turn. They didn't see anything, and so could Lily, Clara and Dana.  
  
"I'm afraid I don't see anything, Your Highness," Remus said carefully, so as not to anger the mermaid.  
  
But it seemed nothing could ruin her mood. "Look at her shoulder!"  
  
"BUT WHOSE SHOULDER SHOULD WE LOOK AT? YOU STILL HAVEN'T TOLD US!" yelled Sirius, having quite enough waiting and anticipation.  
  
"Sirius!" Clara nudged Sirius hard. She held her head up high and thought it over. Her pale cheeks turned a little crimson after a while and the mermaid said, "Forgive me, Mr. Black, I did not tell you." The mermaid who called herself a princess turned to the expectant Lily and bowed her golden crowned head. "Lillian Marie Evans, I am pleased to be in your presence."  
  
Five heads turned to Lily again, who looked stricken. "Excuse us, but Lily's a Muggle born!" Sirius said crossly.  
  
When Vanessa didn't answer, he pointed out slowly, as if explaining to a kindergartner, "That means no relation to a witch, wizard or Squib. Do you use the term MUGGLE in mermaid land or what's it-"  
  
Having had enough, the mermaid said rather fiercely, "Yes we do, Mr. Black, we use that term quite often! I was about to tell you the story, but it seems that you're not interested in it-"  
  
She was cut off, too, by James. "Sorry, Princess Vanessa, can we call you Vanessa?"  
  
The mermaid looked ruffled but said, "I'd prefer you call me Princess, but I suppose it's all right."  
  
"Do go on, then, Vanessa."  
  
Vanessa sighed heavily and said, "It would be best if I could come down there-"  
  
She snapped her fingers and suddenly she was sitting right in front of them, splashing her tail. The three boys stared at the beautiful creature in front of them. From the painting, she had looked plain and regal, but up close she was really beautiful. Vanessa began her tale.  
  
"Well, get comfy in your seats, this is going to be quite long." Lily's mind couldn't register everything at once. She was a Muggle-born and she had Muggle parents. James tugged her down; Lily hadn't realized that she was the only one left standing.  
  
"A long time ago, before Grindelwald was defeated, there lived a very powerful witch. Her name? Serena Edwards. A Magid (witch/wizard capable of doing wandless magic), a Wiccan (a descendant of the Hogwarts Four) and a Seer (witch/wizard capable of making predictions, most of which are not accurate), she had more than the normal magical abilities. Serena grew up in Whittington, now known as Essex.. She was a modest, quiet and gentle child. She attended home school, since her parents were rich and could afford it. While shopping in Diagon Alley one day, she met a man. Serena was sixteen by then and very intelligent, honest, caring, loving. His name was Erich Denstrone, the son of a wealthy man in Germany. He was a wizard too, and they clicked off right away. 3 years later, they married and had a big celebration with their families. Serena was only twenty-one when she got pregnant. It was such a beautiful baby, they all expected, since Erich and Serena were only children and were the heirs of their Pureblood families. Disaster struck, they had a miscarriage. This was just the tip of an iceberg of sadness. Grindelwald was rapidly rising and Erich had joined the Light Side to fight him. Grindelwald had a family necklace. It gave him strength whenever they were in desperate need of it and he was damn near unbeatable. But not anymore, during an attack, Erich had researched the spell to break the necklace and he succeeded. Raged, Grindelwald gave a powerful curse that stunned Erich for three months… When he finally woke up, Serena and everyone were so relieved and overjoyed. Pretty soon when Serena was twenty-three, she got pregnant again. This time, it was a healthy, bouncing baby girl, Nicolette Alexandria Camryn Edwards Denstrone. Camryn, as she was called, was nearing her second birthday when disaster struck yet again. Erich was killed in a mass attack. Serena was wanted by Grindelwald for being Erich's wife and she knew it. What he didn't know was that she had a daughter," Vanessa sighed heavily.  
  
"Excuse me for interrupting, but why did you just come now? We were having a perfectly fine morning, you suddenly appear out of nowhere, cast a spell over us, saying you're looking for this Selena person's heir and now we're listening to you tell us a story that is so unlikely to be connected to Lily, since she has Muggle parents! You could've come earlier or something, I don't know! And you expect us to believe this load of crap?! What d'you take us for, damn babies?" Sirius rose, freaking out.  
  
James sighed and beckoned to Remus. They stood up and shook Sirius by the shoulders as the mermaid smiled on. Turning to Vanessa, Remus smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry for his behavior; it's just that this is an unexpected thing to all of us. Please, do continue."  
  
Lily caught the fierce glare James sent to Sirius.  
  
"As I was saying, she knew Grindelwald was after her. As I've said earlier, Serena was a very powerful witch; she could have overthrown Grindelwald with some effort and some help from other wizards and witches with near the same amount of power. She was a descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw, and yes, Lily, so are you," she smiled at the awestruck faces that surrounded her.  
  
"Serena didn't care if she lived or not, but she cared for Camry's life. And so, with a heavy heart, she pursued a search, a search for a spell to protect Camryn and transfer her powers to the child. So when the time came for Grindelwald to take Serena down, her baby would be protected from the wrath of the evil wizard. Time passed, Camryn grew and steadily, but slowly, half of Serena's power was in her daughter by the time Camryn neared her fourth birthday," a dreamy smile went across Vanessa's face.  
  
"It was a lavish celebration and my father attended. It was held in a mountain in Switzerland," Vanessa said.  
  
Clara asked, puzzled, "But how could your father have gone? He's a merman right?"  
  
The mermaid gave a tinkling laugh. "What you young people don't know……Has anyone heard of a Metamorphmagus? (A/n: is that how u spells it? Hmmm……)"  
  
Lily raised her hand quickly, as she usually did in class, and blushed as her friends started giggling at her. "Um, I did. They can change their appearance with little or no effort at all!"  
  
"Very good!" Vanessa gave another little laugh. "So, my father is one of the few ones and he just transformed himself. So he attended, and he met my mother there. She's a Metamorphmagus, too. During the party, Grindelwald attacked."  
  
Vanessa shook her head sadly, and twiddled her gracefully long fingers. "His followers were the first to arrive; they were called Arethians. They were to kill anyone in sight that wasn't on their side."  
  
Lily looked aghast around the bathroom. Dana and Clara were as pale as the Hogwarts' ghosts and the boys were unusually quiet. She sighed forlornly and stood up, saying, "Excuse me, Vanessa, I'll not be a moment to get a towel, I feel quite cold."  
  
Lily had to escape the absurdity of it all. Walking gingerly over the ledge, she didn't notice the puddle that one of her friends had made while rampaging around earlier that morning. As expected by the reader, Lily slipped. She braced herself for an injury that never came. Lily reopened her tightly shut eyes and let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. A pair of concerned almond eyes stared back at her and she felt his arms support her back.  
  
"Are you all right there, Lily Flower?" James asked. Lily was unaware of the stares she received as she took in his warm breath upon her damp face, his strong muscled arms beneath her and his chocolate brown eyes clouded with concern. She managed a weak nod and James sat down, all the while his arm around her slim shoulders and said, "If it's all right with you, and if you're warm enough, I'll be the one to provide your heat."  
  
Lily was sure that the fire that spread over her face would burn and scar her face for life. Dana can Clara gave her the thumbs-up, their faces now back to their usual color; Sirius and Remus smirked at James' cheeky smile.  
  
"Um, do go on, Vanessa," Lily mumbled, leaning in slightly to James' chest.  
  
"The Arethians worked fast. The Unforgiveables flew around like wild fire, those who were able to Apparate went to alert the Aurors, children cried as the remaining adults who hadn't Apparated or were fighting desperately tried their bests to make Portkeys under extreme pressure. It was a terrible mess, but Serena expected it. She knew they were there for her and her child. Part of the spell that she used to transfer her powers to her child was that if Grindelwald came within a five-mile radius of her daughter, all the Light Sided people would be transported to the Ministry and the Dark Sided people (Grindelwald's followers) would be taken to Siberia, in a zone where Apparition nor magic of any kind, wandless or not, doesn't work. Serena prepared for the final duel between her and the Dark Lord. It was intense, and neither could beat the other easily. Finally, weakening him, Serena cast the final spell. All her remaining powers were fully given to her daughter and she died. Nicolette Alexandria Camryn Edwards Denstrone disappeared from the wizarding world forever."  
  
"And?" Sirius asked impatiently after a moment's pause.  
  
"And what, Sirius Black?" questioned Vanessa.  
  
"What happens next?"  
  
"Nothing!"  
  
"What?!"  
  
The six teenagers were all shocked at the abrupt ending.  
  
"Any questions?" asked Vanessa.  
  
Lily thought, leaning more into James for support as her head buzzed with thought. There were a hundred questions, thousands, millions she was dying to ask. "I- how? Surely- ah- what? This- I-……"  
  
James asked concernedly, "Are you all right, Lily Flower?"  
  
She nodded sheepishly and said, "D'you mind if I think it over first? I think we all need to."  
  
Vanessa looked at the red headed girl sympathetically and said, "Go ahead, Lillian. I know this is a shock for you, I admit, it was shocking for me, too, when my father assigned me leader of the Main Search Team, along with my fiancé, Franzi DeLour."  
  
Remus spoke up. "You said that the spell Serena used defeated Grindelwald, but hang on, wasn't it Dumbledore who beat him?"  
  
Another tinkling giggle was sent his way and Remus blushed madly at the thought of being giggled at by a Veela. (In all boys' minds, once a Veela, full, half, or anything, always a Veela).  
  
"You're a smart one, now, aren't you? But I never said anything about the Dark Lord getting defeated. The spell just weakened him a great deal and took his followers 3 months to get out of Siberia without using magic. Mind you, it was a complicated spell to say the least, and she invented it. And her child was protected until the end of her life. There was a prophecy, though. Her Magid powers and very strong Wiccan abilities combined, Serena was powerful enough to encrypt her own forced prediction into the legendary book of prophecies. "  
  
"I'm ready to ask a question, now" Lily said timidly as all heads swiveled in her direction. "How are you so sure I'm connected to all of this? And what was that prophecy?"  
  
Vanessa smiled. "Lillian, have you forgotten that you have the Edwards' family sign on your left shoulder? Only the most respected and old families have their own family sign and I must say, your family dated back to when Merlin was still alive. You may look if you wish."  
  
Lily glanced at her shoulder but it was covered by James' hand. She, blushing, lifted it off and made to take her hand away from his but he grabbed it and held on. Still blushing madly, she checked her shoulder and sure enough, it was there. Then, a realization dawned upon Lily.  
  
"Vanessa," she said, her voice hoarse, "Do you mean to tell me that my parents aren't my real ones?"  
  
Dana can Clara shot her reassuring looks and Sirius gave a snort of disbelief at what he just realized, too. Remus and James shared sympathetic looks, it wasn't every day you realize the parents you loved were lying to you the whole time.  
  
"Of course they are, Lillian. Ask your father who his mother is," Vanessa said, flipping her tail to moisten it.  
  
Sirius' eyes went glossy as he watched the mermaid with fascination.  
  
"But Vanessa, my father was adopted as a child. He doesn't even know who his own mother was!" Lily wrought her hands while James squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. Lily started; she'd completely forgotten James was there, with his arm around her shoulder (a/n: so had the author!!)  
  
"Oh but Lillian! Now you are found as Rowena Ravenclaw's and Serena Edwards' heir-"  
  
"Hang on a minute. If Serena's a Wiccan, a descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw, you say, how come it is they've both got different last names?" Sirius asked.  
  
Vanessa said, "Well, wouldn't it be awkward if your last name was that of a Hogwarts founder? Rowena thought so and she changed their name to something else. All Wiccans are told at their seventeenth birthday but I am afraid this couldn't have waited until then. It would've been too late!"  
  
"Too late for what?" pressed Sirius still.  
  
"Oh, do shut up Padfoot, let the woman speak about what she was saying before you troubled us with your stupid inquiries!" Remus admonished.  
  
"IT was far from stupid." Sirius sniffed disdainfully.  
  
"As I was saying before we were 'troubled with Mr. Black's stupid inquiries', to quote Mr. Lupin, since we finally found Serena RAVENCLAW'S heir, I can finally summon the Hogwarts Founders book of records. Now, if I could just-"  
  
"The prophecy, Vanessa?" Clara interrupted.  
  
"Yes, it's in the book. Anything and everything that the founders and descendants of the founders have done that is important to the wizarding world is recorded. Prophecies, discoveries, inventing of spells, and the like are in that book."  
  
"Could you summon it or whatever you do that allows you to get a hold of it now?" James asked, shifting Lily in his arm lightly, who blushed again when her friends caught her eye.  
  
"As a matter of fact, I'm about to. Accio Tolaris de Libro de Hogwarts Fourum!"  
  
A book came hurling out of no where, at top speed that you could hear it whipping the wind behind it and into Vanessa's outstretched palm. To Remus, Sirius, Clara and Dana, not forgetting Vanessa, too, it was just an ordinary book, entitled, 'Cauldron Bottoms: A Guide to How Thickness Matters'.  
  
To Lily and James, it announced proudly, 'Hogwarts Founders: Donations to all of Wizardkind'.  
  
"Delightful! My father mentioned that only a Wiccan could open it, and that is with the use of a password. No one knows that password, of course, if it was a free-for-all book, the secrets of the Hogwarts Founders would be revealed for all to see. And if someone indeed is successful in opening it, only Wiccans eyes are adjustable to the book. Should an ordinary person open it to read, all he'll see is the history of Goblin Rebellions and the like. To find the password, a Wiccan says, 'Fourum Dissendium!' and the password will come to your tongue, and will literally roll out of your mouth. To others' ears, they will only hear a pleasant song."  
  
They all nodded, and Clara, being the silent observer she was, noticed a very, very slight slip-up of Vanessa. "Vanessa, you make it sound as if there are two Wiccans here. We all know Lily is one, but who is the other, if there is another?"  
  
Vanessa smiled a thin smile. "I'll explain after the prophecy has been read Lillian, Miss Bent," turning to the auburn haired girl, "Do you mind reading it for us?"  
  
Lily shook her head no and set the book on her dry lap, in which she placed a towel over. She raised her wand and said, "Fourum Dissendium!"  
  
IN her mind, she could picture a parchment and some words written on it. She felt compelled to read them out loud. "Hendragodo Artolomis Drin Todo!"  
  
She didn't hear the deep male voice that joined her in doing so. The book glowed blue and sprang open.  
  
"What page, Vanessa, for the prophecy?" Lily asked tentatively, flipping some pages.  
  
Vanessa said, "Prophecies section; it's marked Proph, Edwards, Serena."  
  
It took quite a while to locate the page. Finally…… "Aha!" Lily yelled triumphantly. "Here it is!"  
  
Her voice went unusual as she read what Serena Edwards had forced upon the legendary Book of Prophecies and Hogwarts Four: Donations to Wizardkind.  
  
"My Camryn, beloved daughter of mine How saddened I am, for cometh the time For me to go, and you to vanish I cast this one spell to grant this one wish Multiply, shall thee, as you disappear Come back when there rises a new great fear Join a fellow Wiccan, this of Gryffindor Together work to make peace soar Goodbye, my Camryn, here is one last tear To fall on the gap between there and here."  
  
"Whoa……Lils, what happened to your voice?" asked Dana, amazed.  
  
"I don't know!" Lily said, doubtful.  
  
A silence so thick if someone tried to cut it, they would've succeeded fell upon the bathroom.  
  
Remus asked, "Who's the other Wiccan?"  
  
The slightest exchange of looks passed between Vanessa and James, who looked pale. Lily noticed this but dared not speak a word.  
  
"I am," James said, slipping his am off Lily, who looked disappointed and a little sad. "I am the heir of Godric Gryffindor. The Potter name was invented to protect us. There, now I've said it, I'm a Wiccan. Sirius, if you can still remember, earlier this morning you asked me what was bothering me. I said family problems. My dad sent me an owl, informing me that it is time for Ravenclaw's heir to be discovered. It troubled him a lot so naturally, it troubled me too. But he'll be enlightened to know we've found her."  
  
A blowing of a horn could be heard from a distance. Vanessa looked alarmed. "I must leave; my father is calling the Search Teams in. Study this book, Lillian, James. You must help each other. I'll visit you both again. Thank you for everything."  
  
Before anyone could say anything or react, she'd jumped in the painting and was swimming off into the horizon. The old mermaid in the picture came back, giggling.  
  
"Did you miss me boys?"  
  
"I think I'll be going up," Lily said, rising. Clara and Dana followed suit, wrapping their towels around them and the boys looked at their watches.  
  
"Good God, its only 2:30 pm. The Ball doesn't start until 7:30!" Sirius proclaimed.  
  
"Bye, James, Sirius, Remus! See you later!" The girls walked out off the portrait and headed in the direction of Gryffindor Tower. 


	17. Of Knickers, Dress Robes, Angels and Bal...

Lily was fazed as she and her friends walked through the buzzing corridors, full of students streaming from the Great Hall.  
  
"What time is it, again?" Dana asked.  
  
Clara checked her watch, "Its half past two, meaning we've missed breakfast and lunch as well. Funny how it only felt so short in the pool, don't you think?"  
  
Dana and Lily nodded.  
  
"It- today- what-"Lily tried saying something.  
  
Dana grinned, "That reminds me, Lil, a certain dream boy of yours had his arm around your shoulders!"  
  
"Yeah, 'Lily Flower," added Dana teasingly, egged on by the girl's crimson face, "You, Miss Lillian Rose Evans, Gryffindor Prefect and Gryffindor Chaser snuggled up to Jamesie!"  
  
"Don't call him that!" Lily snapped mockingly, getting to the beat of the teasing. "It's Jamesie Poo!"  
  
The three laughed and joked until they reached the entrance of Gryffindor Tower. "Wiggle Bumpkin," said Dana.  
  
The portrait hole revealed their familiar common room surrounded in warmth. There was something unusual since it was only the Gryffindor boys occupying the cozy red and gold room.  
  
"We are so late for dressing up!" Clara cried, realizing their wrong timing and the three girls ran up the stairs, dropping their towels, so the older boys stared after them, mostly at their scantily clad backs, as their towels fluttered to the ground from their grasps.  
  
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Hazel stood with Alice, blocking the girls' way.  
  
'Oh no!' Lily thought frantically. 'I should've known the past month without them hovering like hawks above my neck were too good to be true!'  
  
"What were you doing with James?" Alice demanded, crossing her arms.  
  
"And Sirius? You were with them from 6 in the morning until now!" challenged Hazel, advancing towards them.  
  
"Nothing we should tell you," snapped Dana, but she was inwardly shaking with fear, for the two blondes were known to have the boys of Hogwarts under their fingers since no one dared defy them; their fathers were rather important Ministry officials.  
  
"How dare you stand up to me, Summers, for your little Mudblood friend?!" screamed Hazel.  
  
"You-" Clara let out a string of words that Lily knew she'd never dared say in normal circumstances but this was far from normal. Before anyone knew what the hell was happening, Lily had two scorching white slap marks on both her cheeks.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey!" Sirius screamed. The five girls' eyes riveted to the unseen boy, stepping out of the shadows. "  
  
They, with the exception of Hazel who brought a hand up to her hair and batted her carefully-curled eyelashes, glared at Sirius.  
  
"What have you done, Alice? Hazel? Why'd you hit Lily?!"  
  
Alice jumped in to help her friend. "She provoked us, Siri! We were on our way, when she," she pointed an accusing finger at Lily harshly, "came up to us and just started trash talking us!"  
  
"I highly doubt that. Anyway, just go do your make-up or something!" Sirius stormed off to the boys; dormitories.  
  
"You bitch!" Alice hit her shoulder against Lily's painfully. Lily winced as a pain shot up through her upper arm.  
  
"Skank ass whore!" Alice slapped Lily across her face again with all the might she could muster, and stalked off after her friend.  
  
"Come on, Clara, Lily," Dana said, fuming with anger. They entered the busy room of the Gryffindor fifth year girls.  
  
"What happened?" Jamian rushed forward to them. "We could hear Dumb and Dumber screaming like maniacs all the way here!"  
  
"We had the unfortunate displeasure of experiencing a run-in with the two blonde bimbos of Gryffindor," Clara said darkly, as they sank onto Lily's bed.  
  
Paige swept her forehead dramatically. "OH, you poor souls! You must be scarred for life!"  
  
Dana laughed along with the others. "Believe me, we are! Anyway, would you mind if Clara and I dressed up here?"  
  
"Go ahead, get your stuff!" Mantra said, sidling over to Cassie, who'd grabbed her brush. Lily waved to her friends, made her way to the cabinet and opened a specially locked drawer. She took out her Hogsmeade shopping bags that held her dress robes, necklace, bracelet, make-up kit and her shoes. Lily touched the soft fabric of her dress robes and ran her fingers over it smoothly. It'd been a week since she'd last seen it (that's when she bought it) and she felt like it was worth the 26 Galleons she paid.  
  
The two cousins arrived, bags in hand.  
  
Cassie cleared up her throat. "Hey everyone! I'd like our dresses to be a surprise so later after we put on our make-up, let's put on our dresses behind some boards I'd be happy to conjure. Is that all right, you reckon?"  
  
The girls set down in front of their own mirrors (duplicated from the original vanity dresser) and each took out their own make-up kit. They were all in their underwear and their hair was in towels.  
  
"I'm so glad I remembered to buy the Dictate Your Face make-up kit last weekend!" Lily sighed happily.  
  
"So," Paige said, as they put on their make-up, "Who're you going with to the Ball?"  
  
Clara said thoughtfully, "I'm going with Ray Chang. He's from Ravenclaw, the one in our Care of Magical Creatures Class?"  
  
"Hmm..," Mantra said, "I'm going out with Ludo Bagman. From Hufflepuff? I find him oh so cute and he is a Beater for his Quidditch team! We'll have a lot in common, I expect."  
  
"I'm going with Martin Flinch-Fletchely, from Hufflepuff, too. He likes horses and musicals, like me!" Dana said happily.  
  
Jamian said, "Well, as for me, I'm going with Anthony Abbot. You know, from Hufflepuff, too!"  
  
Paige grinned. "Guess who I'm going with? Josh Grandon, from Gryffindor 6th year?"  
  
The girls gushed. "Oh, you lucky girl! However did you manage to get a date with him?" demanded Clara.  
  
"Well, it was three days ago.." Paige launched into a fully detailed description of how the handsome Gryffindor asked her out. After 15 minutes of continuous swooning and gasping, Paige asked, "Cassie, who's your date for the Ball?"  
  
"Christian Anderson, Ravenclaw, 6th year, you know? The tall, dark and gorgeous one?" She smiled at their shocked faces.  
  
Josh was the cousin of Christian and they were known to be two of the hottest guys in school besides the Marauders (excluding Peter, the fat little ratboy, of course).  
  
"You guys are so lucky! I wish I had a date with either of them. Y'know, I heard that they're as nice and funny as they are cute and gorgeous!" Jamian said, a wishful look upon her face, not unlike the rest of the girls.  
  
"Lils, how about you? Did you say yes to any of the guys who asked you out?" Dana said, realizing that her friend hadn't told them who her date was.  
  
The fiery redhead smiled almost as I f she were in a day dream. "Severus Snape."  
  
Looks of disgust, venom, loathing and hatred filled the other girls' faces. (A/n: if you think that's too rash for them sorry, but they really hate Snivellus!)  
  
"Lily, why? Why a Slytherin?" Jamian said slowly, as if Lily could understand the rashness of her actions by accepting a date with Snape if she pronounced each word slowly.  
  
"I don't know, he just seems so closed off to everybody," Lily said, applying some mascara. "I want to get to know him and what better way then to accept his offer to escort me to the Yule Ball?"  
  
"You said you turned him down!" Dana pointed an accusing finger at Lily.  
  
Lily sighed and put down her make-up. "I turned him down once."  
  
Mantra giggled. "You mean the idiot had the stupidity to ask you again after you turned him down already?"  
  
Cassie laughed. "That's just stupid, but Lils, tell us how Snivellus begged for your glorious presence with him to show off to Hogwarts?"  
  
Lily grunted admonishingly when Cassie adopted the Marauders' nickname for the Snape (or Severus, in Lily's eyes.)  
  
"Ok, so it was last week in Potions, you remember, Paige, and Cassie, you were with me in my table..."  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
"Cass, this is too hard! Lils, help me!" Paige was ready to strangle her hair from frustration.  
  
Cassie (the resident Potions mistress in Gryffindor) and Lily (the resident walking-talking spell book) just clapped her back comfortingly and tutted.  
  
"What are you tutting at me for? It's not my fault I can't make a Verisaterum!" Paige said angrily.  
  
"Relax, Paige, it's not the end of the world," Lily said, trying to restore her friend to peace.  
  
"For you it's not, since you are both so smart and-" the dumbstruck Gryffindor trailed off as she looked up at the figure that had currently shadowed over them.  
  
"Hello," the sallow skinned, greasy-haired Slytherin greeted the Gryffindors. "Er, Ev, I mean, Lily, can I have a private word with you?"  
  
Paige and Cassie stared at him, not trusting a word he'd said. Snape sighed, "Look, it's prefect business, besides, I'm not as bad and evil as Potter and Black made me out to be."  
  
They nodded slightly and Lily felt a blush come up to her cheeks in embarrassment at her friend having to give a guy permission to speak to her. He pulled her up from her chair.  
  
"What are you doing?" she hissed in his ear......Lily inhaled his scent.. 'Mmm,' she thought, as he opened his mouth to answer back, 'Strange, he smells wonderful!'  
  
"Professor went out to get something from Madame Prinuella. I need to talk to you outside the dungeons, somewhere private," Snape hissed back, trying to stay in the good graces of Paige and Cassie.  
  
Snape took her hand, Lily turned scathingly red again, and she quietly followed him out. "What is it, Severus?"  
  
Lily could tell he felt a rush of gratitude towards her as she didn't call him by his last name, like most of the Gryffindors did, namely the resident pranksters of Hogwarts.  
  
He started fidgeting with his feet and even though his hands were held together at his back, Lily strongly suspected that he was twiddling his thumbs.  
  
"I was, uh, I was thinking, Li- Lily, would- could, I mean, would you g- go to the Yule B-Ball with me?"  
  
The redhead looked at him expectantly, as Lily only heard the stuttering of Severus. "Could you repeat that again, Severus?"  
  
Snape couldn't've looked more uncomfortable than that moment even if there was a poisonous rattle snake put in his boxers.  
  
"Lily, I know you've turned me down already, but I really want to go with you to the Ball as my date, please, would you go with me?"  
  
Lily was too stunned to speak. The first time had been bad enough, turning him down, and he asked so nicely, too, she really couldn't-  
  
"Okay, Severus."  
  
Snape could hardly believe his ears. "Really? OH, wow!" He did a most unexpected thing, and hugged Lily Evans, all the while thinking, 'I don't care what Father has against Muggleborns, they've proved themselves worthy of studying magic, like Lily.'  
  
The Gryffindor could feel her face heating up as she awkwardly put her arms around the thin frame of Severus, thoughts running wildly around her head. 'There go the worries of not finding a date! But, he's a Slytherin! Oh, stop it, Lily Evans; you are no discriminator of what House a person is in, it depends on his personality!'  
  
"If you don't mind, Severus, Professor has returned!" Lily said, hearing the familiar clicking of the sour Potion's master's boots.  
  
When Lily came back to their table, Cassie and Paige noticed, she looked exceptionally happy and flushed. Snape looked just the way she did.  
  
"Hey guys! Paige, I'd be glad to make your Verisaterum for you!!"  
  
END FLASHBACK  
  
"He HUGGED you, Lily? As in, arms around your body, embrace, a sign of affection?" Jamian shrieked.  
  
"Yeah, and what's bloody wrong than that?" said Lily, getting a little bit pissed off at how her friends were reacting.  
  
"Well," Mantra said, "technically, nothing's bad about that except he's a freaking "SLYTHERIN! Lils, their level is low, way low!"  
  
Lily sighed and said, "You guys are stooping down to their level of you continue this. The only way we can be higher than them is to help them get out of that level!"  
  
"She has a point, but still," Clara said, "that doesn't mean I like him, Lils."  
  
Dana checked her watch, "Hey guys, it's 4 already. I think we're ready, so let's conjure the dressing board thing Cassie said about."  
  
"Hold that thought, Dana, won't our make-up get smudged as we put on our dress robes?" Lily asked, patting a damp tissue cloth over her finished face.  
  
Jamian laughed. "I remember, this is your first time to buy the Dictate Your Face make-up kit. There's one thing you should know, it like has this enhancement thing so that it's safe from water, smears and smudges."  
  
"Useful for weddings wear women bawl their bloody eyes out," a male voice said. It was amazing to see the reaction of the Gryffindor girls to that single sentence.  
  
Paige and Clara, who were sitting closely to each other screamed and jumped into a nearby bed and drew the hangings, their legs still seen from the outside. Dana and Mantra gave yelps of surprise and headed for the bathroom, slamming the door behind them. Jamian and Cassie dove into their closet, which was open, and the closet doors banged after them.  
  
Lily, who'd stood up to get her dress robes when Dana proposed they dress up, was in the middle of the room. She sort of froze on her spot. What else would you expect from seven girls in nothing but their underwear?  
  
There, leaning on the doorway, were none other than James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, grinning like wolves (in Remus' case that was normal).  
  
"Why so surprised?" Sirius asked, a cheeky grin lighting up his face from ear to ear.  
  
Remus laughed teasingly, "Yeah, Lily here isn't even attempting to cover herself!"  
  
The aforementioned blushed and turned around, giving the boys a full view of her behind.  
  
"Come out, it's not like we didn't see you in your bikinis a while ago," James called out to Clara and Dana, "And Lily Flower, might I say, you're as pretty in the back as you are up front!"  
  
Sirius walked to Lily and put his hands on her shoulders, saying seductively, "And, oh Lily! What a great ass you have!"  
  
The blushing redhead pushed Sirius away and forced the boys out of their room, and before the door completely closed on the boys' faces, she giggled, "Perverts!"  
  
"Lils! You swam with the Marauders?" Cassie shrieked as she and the others emerged from their hiding places. "And I can't believe you just stayed you just stayed there in front of them! In your underwear!!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, it's not that big a deal. Besides, Peter wasn't there and I wasn't alone. Clara and Dana were with me!" Lily said, and before anyone could answer, she continued, "Let's just get on with dressing up, shall we?"  
  
~at the common room~  
  
"That was bloody brilliant!" Sirius whooped. "Dana was like, 'aaah!' and boom! Off to the bathroom with Mantra!"  
  
Remus, ever the quiet one, grinned. "Did you see Clara? Just screamed and jumped in a bed!"  
  
"Lily's reaction was the worst. Just sort of stopped moving, and stared at us like aliens. I mean, we aren't that ugly, are we, Padfoot, Moony?" James mock wiped away a tear and sniffled.  
  
Sirius slapped James' back. "The best, you mean, Jamesie? Man, I stand by what I said earlier, Lily Evans has a great ass..I'd love to see the others'!"  
  
~an hour later, at five o'clock, (two hours and thirty minutes till the Ball) back in the fifth year girls' dormitories~  
  
Jamian's voice rang out through the messy circular room. "Hey, everyone, are we all ready to come out?"  
  
"Yeah, just a minute or two, Jamian, I have to put on my shoes, and it's so hard," Paige complained.  
  
"I also need to find the back of my earring!" Dana said frantically and Lily could hear rustling sounds coming from Dana's dressing board as she lifted the plastic and wrapping paper in search of the back of her earring.  
  
Mantra shouted, "I need a brush, and I don't have my wand with me, could someone toss one?"  
  
From Cassie's board came flying a brown brush, sailing through the air and landing on-  
  
"Ow! Oooh, who ever threw that is going to have to pay, you conked me on my head!" Mantra said fiercely, and Lily giggled, Mantra was rubbing her head back and forth in an effort to ease the bump and muttering darkly 'under her breath'.  
  
After a good ten minutes, "Are we ready now?" Jamian yelled.  
  
"Yeah, Jay, we're done," Lily said, fixing her hair one last time. She stepped out and gazed at her friends. They were all smiling insecurely and self-consciously.  
  
"So," Clara said, her smile still plastered on her face, "I guess I'll take away the mirrors and boards now, eh?"  
  
No reaction. She sighed and with a wave her wand, the mirrors and boards disappeared, the messy room back to its usual orderliness. With another wave of her wand, their vanity mirror enlarged and stood before the girls, who looked back at their reflections.  
  
"We're gorgeous!" Mantra said, twirling around so that her cream-colored dress robes flowed out gracefully around her.  
  
"You could say that again," Cassie said as her beautiful burgundy gown sparkled in the light of their room.  
  
Paige stood in robes of dark purple and commented dreamily, oozing with confidence, "We're definitely hot!"  
  
"I'm so buying all my dress robes from that store from now on!" Dana said, twirling like Mantra and she watched her dress robes of canary yellow hug her body nicely.  
  
"Of course we'll buy our robes there," Clara said reassuringly, fingering the beautiful light gold material that layered her robes.  
  
Jamian, the usually loud girl, was outspoken this time. "In all my life, I never thought I could be so pretty," she said softly, lightly touching her robes of light pink carnation.  
  
"Wow, I never thought I could look this okay, too!" Lily said in awe, as she gazed at herself.  
  
In all honesty, Lily looked remarkable, beautiful, pretty, astounding, spectacular, amazing, natural. The top of her dress robes was a tube and had a tight bodice. Waist down, the skirt flowed out beneath her and covered her feet completely, leaving only her toes to be seen. It was a beautiful color, forest green, and brought put her sparkling emerald orbs. The robes hugged her figure nicely, exposing her curves. Lily's dress robes had glitter scattered all over, making Lily shine and stand out when put in the light.  
  
She wore her hair in an elegant French twist, leaving curly auburn tendrils to frame her face. Her hairstyle exposed her neck, pale and sprinkled daintily with freckles.  
  
Lily's face was that of an angel: dark green eyelashes and pitch black eyeliner and mascara accentuated her big green eyes, a faint blush lit up her rosy cheeks, her lips had a pale soft lip gloss to make them shine and the lip liner she'd applied made her lips fuller and pouting. She had a transparent green hunter's cloak to cover her bare shoulders.  
  
Her neck displayed a beautiful necklace, a plain gold chain with a beautiful lily pendant (she'd decided to get rod of the emerald) hanging. Lily's right wrist had a simple bracelet, made of entwined lilies, irises and roses (this, too, had improvements, first it was only lilies, but now it included irises and roses).  
  
Her petite feet were elongated and encased in dark green stilettos, giving her two extra inches. The straps were complicated, reminding anyone that Lily loved Herculean times (as the strapping were like the people's sandals). They spent the time just talking about everything; Hogwarts, boys, make-up, fashion, love, cute guys, everything (excluding Quidditch).  
  
~Down with the guys, at 7:15~  
  
"Sirius, remind me again why we're waiting for the wrong girls? Our dates are from different Houses, four your information. Except James, he's meeting Aretha in the Great Hall," Remus complained, sitting down and impatiently checking his watch.  
  
"Because, Moony, we have to show them what they're missing when they go to Balls with other guys besides us," Sirius said indignantly.  
  
"Who exactly are you referring to as 'they', Padfoot?" James asked, straightening his robes.  
  
The mischievous boy grinned. "Clara for Remus, Dana for moi, and 'Lily Flower' for you."  
  
Remus blushed and James looked away, not wanting anyone to see the blush that came upon his cheeks, too.  
  
"Remus, you seriously don't think the whole of Gryffindor doesn't know you have a spot for Clarakins? And Prongsie! What with evening talks, your actions this a while ago and the way you act towards Lily, who wouldn't think you don't fancy her?"  
  
Then, Sirius turned sober. "But with your habit of picking up and dropping girls every two weeks, I'm afraid she'll just get hurt."  
  
A serious Sirius (no pun intended) wasn't something you encountered every day. James sighed. It was true; he had a new girl every two weeks. He was about to break it off with Aretha Ryan. But he wasn't as dense or daft as Sirius. He knew Lily liked him, not meaning to be arrogant, though. It was flattering, that infatuation of Lily's, but so were the rest of the girls of Hogwgarts' crushes on him. But Sirius got one thing wrong: James didn't like Lily..not in that way, at least.  
  
"Jamesie! Oh, Jamesie!" An annoying voice sang out.  
  
Before James could turn to Sirius and snap at him, giggling could be heard from the girls' staircase.  
  
The three Marauders sat up, waiting eagerly for the pretty girls sure to come down after hours of getting ready. None of them even gave a thought that an annoying voice like that could ever be Lily, Dana or Clara.  
  
To their disappointment, Alice and Hazel emerged, both in shocking pink robes. To James' dislike, Alice sidled up to him, and to Sirius' delight, Hazel made her way to him.  
  
"Oh, Jamesie, that Aretha Ryan is so mean to steal you from me! But, I guess every hoping girl should at least have one night with James Potter," Alice giggled some more. "I remember our first date last July. After dinner, I found out that you were better in bed than I thought you to be!"  
  
Sirius choked. "Excuse me, please keep your information about James' body to yourselves!"  
  
James stiffened, and was about to turn to Sirius to snap at him when more giggling and loud voices came frilled the hallway following the girls' staircase again.  
  
"I can't believe I just stood there in my knickers! Talk about embarrassing.." Lily said.  
  
"You wanted to see Jamesie-Poo to see your gorgeous body, wink, wink, nudge, nudge, hmm?" Jamian teased.  
  
"I did not! I just..froze!" A frustrated Lily tried hard not to pull her hair from its style.  
  
"Relax, Lils, we're only messing with you. Don't get your knickers in a twist!" laughed Cassie.  
  
"Bet Lily would love to see Jamesie-Poo in his knickers!" Mantra said gleefully, causing more laughter.  
  
They composed themselves as they neared the stairs, and went out one by one. Finally, only the three best friends were left. The other girls' voice faded away as they went out of the portrait hole and to the Great Hall. Clara nodded uncertainly.  
  
"Let's go."  
  
~With the boys!~  
  
Remus sank deep into thought when he heard Sirius say that everyone on Gryffindor knew he had a soft spot for Clara. It was not that disturbing, but Remus found it something important to dwell on.  
  
"Talk about embarrassing.."  
  
HE snapped out of his stupor. "Huh?"  
  
Sirius' beetle black eyes twinkled. "They're here, Remmie, m'boy! Clara for you, Dana for moi and 'Lily Flower' for Jamesie!"  
  
The three boys watched eagerly, while Alice and Hazel huffed and marched through the portrait hole along with the other fifth year girls as soon as they saw the boys' attention wasn't on them.  
  
They heard a faint, "Let's go."  
  
And after a while, three beautiful angels stepped out to meet them. 


	18. Sweet Nothings to Make Severus Jealous

Disclaimer: Harry Potter- all persons, things, animals, and blah blah that J.K. Rowling created isn't mine.. Only Clara, Dana, Hazel and Alice and all other people you don't recognize.. (  
  
Last chapter: Preparations for the Yule Ball and the girls come down to meet the boys..  
  
One warning: A bit of sour language in the upcoming chapters, be warned. And it wouldn't be the same if the vulgar words weren't used..  
  
ON TO THE STORY!  
  
.. And after a while, three beautiful angels stepped out to meet them.  
  
Lily was covered by Dana and Clara, who'd appeared together at the top of the staircase. Sirius, James and Remus' attention went to them, but only to one particular girl.  
  
James thought she looked beautiful in that dress. An angel, a nightingale, a sweet beautiful melody. He could compare her to a lot of things all day. 'Green really brings out her eyes. It's her best color.'  
  
Remus sent a shy smile to Clara, who returned it and inwardly he sighed with happiness. She was so pretty and kind, who wouldn't fall n love with her? 'Shit, the 'l' word! I thought about it! Oh no...' Remus thought frantically.  
  
Sirius was speechless, and this was a moment to remember, it was once in a blue moon that Sirius Orion Black had nothing witty to comment.  
  
Sirius' mind worked furiously, as Dana's taunting smile infuriated him and made him smile, too, at the same time. He blurted out what was on the tip of his tongue without thinking. "Bloody hell. What in the shit happened to you three?"  
  
The smiles on the girls' faces disappeared and Dana sputtered. "What's that suppose to mean?"  
  
Sirius opened his mouth to answer when Remus pushed him out of the way. "What he means to say is, you three look-"  
  
Lily smiled. "Fantastic?"  
  
Clara giggled. "Amazing?"  
  
Dana laughed. "Remarkable?"  
  
They were going so fast that the boys couldn't keep up. But those were what the three Marauders were thinking about them right now.  
  
"Spectacular?" Clara ran a hand over her dress robes.  
  
"Pretty?" Dana twirled a strand of her hair.  
  
"Stupendous?" Lily licked her lips seductively and giggled at the boys' horrified expressions.  
  
"Gorgeous?" Clara spun around and laughed at the Marauders' wide eyes, watching her skirt flow out.  
  
"Beautiful?" The three of them put their arms around each other and spoke in unison, giving them their best smiles.  
  
James regained use of his voice after losing the ability to speak in the shock of seeing Lily all dressed up and beautiful. "Now we're talking! Lily Flower, promise me a dance or two later?"  
  
The redhead smiled at him, the same smile she reserved especially for James. "Sure, James, I'll ask Severus if he doesn't mind. And, you three don't look so bad either."  
  
It was true; James was in midnight blue robes that hung loosely over his muscular frame, while Sirius went with the traditional black, and Remus had robes made in a silvery, dark grey color that brought out his stormy eyes.  
  
The two cousins grimaced at the mention of the greasy Slytherin's name, but the boys were too busy expressing their feelings for that act of sweetness to actually hear their enemy's name come out from Lily's mouth and being described as her date.  
  
Sirius gagged. "How sick is that, eh Remus?"  
  
Dana silenced him with one of her famous death glares. "I think it's sweet, and so does Clara."  
  
Clara laughed and checked her watch. "Hey, it's 7:20, let's go down already. Or at least, Lily, Dana and I are going to go now. Unless you want to come with us?"  
  
The boys shared knowing looks and nodded. James offered his arm to Lily, who giggled and leaned to him, whispering, "Thanks for escorting me."  
  
"Anytime, Lily Flower."  
  
They went ahead of their friends. The walk to the Great Hall was quiet, and all the while Lily thought, 'He still has the power to make my knees tremble! I wonder if Severus would be able to do that..'  
  
She closed her eyes and inhaled his cologne, 'Mmm..Hugo Boss,' Lily thought.  
  
James watched Lily close her eyes and take in his scent. He chuckled lightly, not too loud so that Lily wouldn't hear. Her auburn hair gave off a distinct aura that reminded James of a halo when put in the dim light of the torches. He reached for her hand.  
  
Lily's eyes sprung open. James was surprised and pleased when their hands made contact with each other. It felt so complete and Lily's hand fit so perfectly into his, like they were a molded statue that was split in half. She smiled at him shyly and he grinned back.  
  
She loved his lopsided grin. He replaced his left hand with his right and put his free arm around her shoulders.  
  
"James! What are you doing?"  
  
"Nothing, just resting my arm, honestly," James took on a mock hurting voice.  
  
Lily slapped him playfully. "And since when did I become your armrest?"  
  
"Since now."  
  
They lapsed into silence as they passed through the barely filled corridors of Hogwarts. James went back to thinking. He started having a conversation with himself.  
  
'She's so pretty tonight! Well, she's always pretty but tonight more so!'  
  
'Potter, shut up and just snog her!'  
  
'Since when did I have mind conversations with myself? Never mind, don't answer that. It's fun!'  
  
'The question is, Potter, do you like her or not in the way she likes you?'  
  
'You seriously want my answer? A while ago, when Sirius mentioned that-'  
  
'None of that. I know already, I'm just your other side, Potter! You thought that Lily's "infatuation" was flattering and that crap. And when Alice came and started flirting-'  
  
'Hey, hey, hey! Why're you telling me the story? I'm the one telling the story here! And when Alice came and started flirting, I was just thinking that I didn't like her THAT way...'  
  
'I have a feeling you're going to change your mind about that, Potter!'  
  
'That's cause I'm about to, dummy.'  
  
'I sort of like feel weird sometimes when she comes near me or speaks to me or makes fun of me, something no one gets away with...'  
  
'It could be like that. Maybe you're just dumb enough not to realize that that's exactly what you feel when you find a girl hot!'  
  
'But I think it may be different this time! Really!'  
  
'But what if she does get hurt, if she becomes one of my girlfriends? Like Sirius said?'  
  
'I don't know, I guess I'll have to risk it, then?'  
  
'You're seriously asking me that?'  
  
'Yeah! What's wrong with it?'  
  
'Shut up, Potter. Oh, we're in the Great Hall!'  
  
'Fun talking to you! Come back soon!'  
  
'Stupid arse! We share the same mind!'  
  
'Oh! Right...'  
  
"James?" A light hand rested on his shoulder.  
  
"Hrm?" James looked at Lily, who was smirking at him.  
  
"I'll just go to my date now, okay?" she asked in that innocent voice of hers.  
  
James asked, "Yeah, but hang on a minute. I don't reckon you ever told me who was taking you to the Ball?"  
  
Lily gestured over the crowd, but it was too thick to see. She moved a little space away from him in her anticipation of his reaction to what she was about to say.  
  
James laughed. "What? Is it someone that horrible that you're actually afraid of what I might do or say?"  
  
She laughed nervously in return. "A little. Anyway, I'm going to meet Severus now."  
  
Lily was about to worm her way out of the throng of people and to Snape when James grabbed her arm a little too roughly.  
  
"Say what?! Severus, as in Severus Snape, the slimy Slytherin git who always picks on me?"  
  
Lily nodded slightly. "It's not a common name, is it? James, don't be mad. He's nice, if you get to know him. And can you please let go of my arm?" she added.  
  
James fumed with anger. 'One, two, three, I'm going to make it to ten, four five, six, keep thinking ten!.........'  
  
"Ok, if you need me, Sirius, Remus or Peter, just come anytime, all right? And I swear, if he touches you or hurt you or any thing of the like...'  
  
Lily grinned foolishly at his over protectiveness. "You'll what? James, don't worry! I promise I'll go to you in case I need anything! It's not like I'm your girlfriend or anything, I'm just like a sister to you, right?"  
  
Lily didn't realize she said the last part rather bitterly and left the messy haired, bespectacled boy gaping and pondering over what she had just said in her wake.  
  
She looked up and started searching for the tall and gangly Slytherin; when she spotted him, rather, he spotted her, Snape waved her over.  
  
"Lily! You look beautiful tonight! Not that you don't look beautiful every day but tonight, you're prettier!" Severus rambled.  
  
Lily laughed at his consciousness. "Severus, don't be nervous! It's just me, Lily Evans, the girl with the fire-engine hair!"  
  
He smiled at her and Lily couldn't help but smile back. "Exactly why I'm nervous!"  
  
Severus offered her arm to her, and Lily was reminded the way James held out his arm for her only a few minutes ago. She linked her arm happily through his and together, they walked into the Great Hall.  
  
Dumbledore and the staff certainly lived up to the past Balls they'd had before, the Prefects only helped a little. The four House tables had disappeared and were replaced with small round tables that could fit eight people, but Lily didn't doubt that they would expand should any one wish to join a full table. There were twelve huge Christmas trees, six on each side, with different ornaments. There were bubbles with little faeries inside, gold balls with sweets, candy canes, magically enlarged so people could take a bite and lots more. The hovering candles in the Hogwarts ceiling were changed to mistletoe, and lots of couples kept going under them. The bewitched ceiling had snow lightly falling, and it landed on people, too, except it gave no coldness, but a warm, tickling sensation. The staff's table was decorated with holly, ivy and the like of Christmas decorations.  
  
"Lily," Severus nudged Lily out of her wondering, "look up!"  
  
She did so and to her astonishment, Severus had managed to lead them directly under mistletoe. Lily started worrying; would Severus kiss her on her lips or her cheek?  
  
He chuckled and leaned in to kiss her. Lily closed her eyes and inhaled his cologne, just as she had done to James a while ago.  
  
She was furious with herself; 'Lily, stop thinking about James. You're with Severus, for Merlin's sake!'  
  
She felt Severus' moist lips kiss her cheek and she inwardly sighed with relief. For a while there, Lily thought he was serious on kissing her in the lips, and she surely didn't want her first kiss to be from the Slytherin, no offense to Severus.  
  
After he pulled away, Lily felt awkward, and she said softly, "Thank you, Severus, let's go find a table."  
  
Coincidentally, the table she and Severus sat at were soon joined by James and Aretha, Sirius and Marianne and Remus and Clarissa.  
  
"Hello, Lily! Hello, Marianne! Hello, Clarissa!" Aretha chirped perkily. Lily shared an annoyed glance with her fellow Prefect, Clarissa Dunt and they both looked away, fighting to keep their laughter inside.  
  
"Oh, hi, Aretha!" Marianne mocked the chirpy Gryffindor and the three girls, being Lily, Clarissa and Marianne, burst out in giggles. Aretha looked confused.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"Oh, nothing," Clarissa made to brush something away, "Just saw Dumbledore tuck his beard away."  
  
Aretha laughed fakely and gave a huge, simpering smile. "How funny that must've been!"  
  
Lily leaned in to Severus and whispered in his ear, making him turn red, or as red as possible for his sallowed skin to turn into. "How dumb could this girl get? James has to have better taste or else he'll turn into a virtual cheerleader!"  
  
He chuckled and whispered back, his breath tickling the back of her neck. "Trust Potter to get stupid girls, unlike me."  
  
Lily blushed and kissed Severus' cheek. He, too, turned crimson again and smiled at Lily. She'd no idea why she did that, but she mentally slapped her face for it. 'Lils, don't egg him on anymore than necessary!'  
  
"So, James, remind me, what did happen the last time an unwanted person joined us?" said Sirius, staring fixedly at Severus, who was turning white.  
  
Lily groaned and held Severus' hand. "Severus, I'm so sorry those two prats are out to get you. Don't mind them."  
  
He smiled gently, ignoring James' reminiscing of what they did to Malfoy, making the Slytherin's robes transparent for all to see his Bugs Bunny boxers. "They bug me everyday, and when you've been tolerating them for the past five years, you kind of grow immunity to it."  
  
Before she could reply, or James could continue with his sad little story, Dumbledore stood up.  
  
"Students! Welcome to the Yule Ball! It is my pleasure to congratulate the prefects, Head Boy and Girl and our caretaker, Mr. Pringle, for taking care of our decorations. It is also my pleasure to say that a rather popular band of Wizard-kind has kindly consented to entertain us. Let me present to you, The Weird Sisters!"  
  
A round of applause catcalls and hooting went through the Great Hall. After while, the students' excitement simmered down.  
  
"I would like to say, the staff and I hope this one night of excitement can sustain your yearnings for fun (at this, he looked directly at the Marauders, who chuckled and waved at him). May I ask the Head Boy and Girl to open the first dance? And after that, the two Prefects of each House to join them?"  
  
The spotlight shone on the Weird Sisters, who just walked onto the small platform set up right in front of the alleviated staff's table. "Hello Hogwarts! We're the Weird Sisters, and we're here to rock you! For our opening song, it's a slow one: Leaving on a Jet Plane."  
  
A blushing Arthur Weasley led an equally red Molly Winchester to the centre of the dance floor, their necks very red from the attention that was surely centered upon them from the students.  
  
I'm ... I'm ...  
  
All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go  
  
I'm standin' here outside your door  
  
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye  
  
But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn  
  
The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn  
  
Already I'm so lonesome I could die  
  
So kiss me and smile for me Tell me that you'll wait for me  
  
Hold me like you'll never let me go  
  
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane  
  
I don't know when I'll be back again  
  
Oh, babe, I hate to go  
  
I'm. . .  
  
Dumbledore signaled the Prefects to join them and Lily and James stood up, Lily smiling nervously and James, a cheeky grin lighting up his handsome features. If Lily took the time to look back at their table, she would've seen her date scowling ferociously at them as their hands made contact with each other.  
  
Slowly, James led her to the dance floor, staying in a not so secluded area. He pulled her close to him; resting both of his hands on her waists, where Lily tingled slightly. She smiled adoringly up at James, she couldn't help it, and she put her arms around his neck, leaving them to hang off in a very seductive manner, unconsciously.  
  
"So. . ." James started. "Are you still mad at me for looking out for you?"  
  
There's so many times I've let you down  
  
So many times I've played around  
  
I'll tell you now, they don't mean a thing  
  
Lily took a while to listen to the song before answering. "No, I realize I shouldn't've blown up at you like that. Sorry?"  
  
It was James' turn to ponder over the song.  
  
Every place I go, I think of you  
  
Every song I sing, I sing for you  
  
When I come back I'll wear your wedding ring  
  
He formed a playful pout, and pretended to be in deep thought. "Of course, Lily Flower, I can never stay mad at you when you're looking like that!" (A/n: Westlife, anyone?)  
  
Lily smiled, quickly erasing her sad, puppy-dog eyes. "Ah, I knew I had power over you!"  
  
So kiss me and smile for me  
  
Tell me that you'll wait for me  
  
Hold me like you'll never let me go  
  
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane  
  
I don't know when I'll be back again  
  
Oh, babe, I hate to go  
  
They smiled serenely at each other. Lily wished she could rest her head on his firm chest, and James heard her sigh longingly.  
  
"You can, you know."  
  
She blinked. "Huh?"  
  
James chuckled, "You know, lean your head on my shoulder?"  
  
Lily nodded appreciatively and put her head on the suggested body part. They moved in time to the music, with Lily trying not to fall asleep right then and there.  
  
Now the time has come to leave you  
  
One more time, oh, let me kiss you  
  
And close your eyes and I'll be on my way  
  
Dream about the days to come  
  
When I won't have to leave alone  
  
About the times that I won't have to say ...  
  
All this time, James was having another of his conversations with his head.  
  
'Potter, as I've said earlier, snog her now! There's your big chance!'  
  
'Shut up! That'd be wrong. . . and besides, why would I want to make ickle Snapey-Poo jealous?' countered his other side sarcastically.  
  
'We wouldn't want that now, would we, Potter?'  
  
'Of course not!'  
  
'If that's the case, well, then. . .'  
  
James tilted Lily's head with his free hand that he'd removed from her waist. She looked confusedly up at him, with an expression clearly saying, 'What?'  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Snape glaring daggers at him and this egged James on.  
  
"James?" Lily queried, looking at him in an odd way. He turned to her and smiled, leaning in closer and closer to her face.  
  
So kiss me and smile for me Tell me that you'll wait for me Hold me like you'll never let me go  
  
Lily sucked in her breath, a million thoughts running through her brain. James still moved in closer, his arms now supporting her back and her hands bringing his neck closer to him.  
  
Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane  
  
Closer.and closer.Lily was fidgeting inside with anticipation and foreboding. . . James' breath was playing on her face. . .  
  
Don't know when I'll be back again  
  
James closed his brown eyes, Lily took note, and followed suit, closing her emerald eyes that later, their son would inherit.  
  
Their lips met in a soft, light kiss. (A/n: I don't want to say 'a surge of electricity went through the both of them as they kissed', coz I think that line's been way over used. . .)  
  
Oh, babe, I hate to go. . .  
  
It was what you say, the softest kiss ever to be kissed. A confusing yet accurate sentence. Lily was about to pull away when James decided to deepen it. His hands roamed over the small of her back and she fussed with his hair, after catching on to the idea.  
  
I'm leaving on a jet plane. . .  
  
After while they pulled apart and gazed into the other's eyes. Lily brought a hand to her lips and turned on her heel, knowing for sure Severus had seen the kiss. She ran to the girl's room, and Clara and Dana had spotted her, catching up to her.  
  
James was left standing there, and after taking in what happened in a few minutes, he strode back to his table, with his friends looking oddly at him, a waiting Aretha and a fiercely angered Snape, with only one thought going through his head:  
  
'Lily. . .'  
  
(Leaving) on a jet plane. . . Aaaah. . . 


	19. Of Daggers, Talks with Headmasters and P...

Disclaimer: I don't own HP, never have, never will!  
  
Last chapter: Part 1 of the Ball!!! Rather weird, if I do say so myself. . .  
  
One warning: A bit of sour language in the upcoming chapters, be warned. And it wouldn't be the same if the vulgar words weren't used.. (same as last chapter)  
  
And now. . . our latest chapter:  
  
Lily ran through the oak doors of the Great Hall, and turned west, in the direction of the nearest girls' loo, her dress flying out after her, but her tears that she thought were so fitting to flow didn't. She reached her destination in about a minute and she quickly headed for the sink to wash her face, as finally, a lone tear coursed its way down her cheek.  
  
Lily hesitated for a while, considering her make-up would be ruined if she washed her face. "Oh, magical make-up, I forgot!" She laughed to herself, remembering how Sirius , had appeared while dressing up for the Ball. She really had no idea why she was laughing when she didn't know how she should feel: horrible or pleased.  
  
Clack, clack. High heels sounded on the floor near the door. Lily smiled to herself, despite how she felt at the moment, betting that they belonged to her two best friends. Sure enough, when the door burst open-  
  
"Lils!" Dana looked alarmed, her hair holding on to it's style. She caught a glance at Lily's smiling face, and obviously heard the comment Lily made about the magical make-up since she said, "We ran all the way here from our dates just to see you chuckling to yourself all alone!"  
  
Clara leaned on the cold tile of the bathroom wall, gasping heavily to regain her breath. "Yeah, what the hell happened back there?"  
  
Lily twirled a ringlet around her finger. "You saw, I saw you two watching me from the corner of my eyes."  
  
They laughed, as the three of them knew that the two cousins were watching Lily sneakily and their attempts to pretend to be innocent bystanders were all in vain.  
  
Dana's eyes sparkled. "Lily, James Potter, the James Potter, kissed you. Kissed you, and on the lips mind you. Wake up! You've been pining for him since two years ago! Why'd you run anyway? If I were you I'd be ecstatic!"  
  
Lily brought out her wand and started fiddling with it. "I so wasn't pining for him! And I don't really know. Oddly enough, I should probably be swooning from head to toe, gushing about how dreamily enchanting it was. But it wasn't at all, y'know. He was making Severus jealous, showing him he could steal me from Severus even as my date. No offence, but that was so immature and made himself look like an asshole! That was a really stupid reason to kiss a girl. Like me."  
  
Clara snorted. "Lils, how the hell did you find out he was trying to make Snivellus jealous?" (a/n: hey it rhymes!)  
  
"Don't call him that! Well, I've been watching him for almost two years and by now, I've pretty much mastered the art of discerning his facial expressions, and that's one hard skill!" Lily said, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "For example, he has this look cross his face when he's excited about something, like planning a prank with the Marauders. Then, he gets another when he's with a girl, all ready for a good snog, and quite seductive."  
  
Dana groaned all in good nature. "Lils! No unnecessary descriptions, please!"  
  
She laughed mirthlessly. "Yeah, then when he's trying to anger someone, this is usually for Severus and Lucius," ("Greasy and Barbie, you mean," Clara snorted again, but sobered up after she earned herself a glare from Lily), "and he was looking exactly like that when I was dancing with him," the redhead finished.  
  
Dana stared at her incredulously. "You're obsessed. Spookily obsessed."  
  
Lily forced smiled and pocketed her wand. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I plan on ignoring him after this."  
  
After a while of silence-  
  
"Did you know that was my first kiss? My first kiss and it was only out of spite? Do you know how awful that feels?"  
  
"Oh, Lily. . ."  
  
The two looked sympathetically at their friend, who was trying to hide her disappointment at James only kissing her to get Snape jealous, and failing altogether, walk out the bathroom door.  
  
As they reached the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall hurried to them. "Miss Evans, are you all right? What on earth made you flee from the spot like that? Anything at all to help you available?"  
  
Lily said, "Nothing, Professor. I just had a spider down my dress robes, but it's all taken care of. Thank you for being concerned, though, Professor."  
  
The elder woman peered at Lily through her glasses as if seriously doubting her words but nodded and left.  
  
Lily bade her friends' farewell as they proceeded on to their table. She sighed ruefully as she sat down beside Snape, who leered at her not unlike McGonagall had.  
  
"Damn that Potter," he hissed in her ear as Lily settled down. "Are you ok?"  
  
"Yes, I'm fine," Lily said, "And I didn't go to the loo because of that. . . kiss, I went since there was this hairy spider in my dress robes."  
  
Snape laughed bitterly. "Spider my ass, Lily. . ."  
  
He was cut off. "Drop it, Sev. Let's switch tables, all right?" Lily turned to the three Marauders and their dates. She noticed James squirmed uncomfortably and looked interested in his fingernails. "Sir, Rem, Marianne, Clarissa, Aretha, and . . . James, Severus and I are going over to Clara and Dana's table since they want to get to know Sev better. All right?"  
  
The girls waved at them while the Marauders, with the exception of James, who was trying his hardest to appear fascinated with the hem of his robes, glowered at them. Lily stuck out her tongue and took the hand Snape offered her. Out the corner of her eye, she saw Aretha simper up to James, lifting his chin up and capturing his lips in hers. She smirked sadly and turned away, missing the scene of James rudely pulling from Aretha's grip, and the girl's face going into a pout.  
  
The two started walking away. Lily heard James say, "Lily, please. . ." but she ignored him and the fact that that was the only time he didn't say her nickname. When they reached Clara and Dana's table, the two cousins glared at Snape bitterly, as did their dates (Snape was very unpopular at Hogwarts) but smiled and greeted Lily pleasantly. She sighed, knowing it would take a million years before anyone could really understand Severus fully, even she hadn't completely unraveled the person beneath the sallow, pale skin and greasy, matted dark hair.  
  
"Students," Dumbledore stood up, "We'll have a break for dinner and in an hour, the band will play some songs again for you all to dance to. Enjoy your dinner! Chop chop!" He clapped his hands.  
  
Steak, gravy, chicken legs, lamb chops, shrimp, squid, and more delicious food appeared on every table. Lily ate quite a bit, all the while chatting with her friends and their dates, also trying to include Snape, whom everyone else was pointedly ignoring.  
  
In an hour, as their Headmaster promised, the band struck again, and Lily found out that she and Severus were good dance partners, swinging to slow, jazz, pop, and rock. She switched partners occasionally but always returned to Severus. Their conversations mostly centered on the school: teachers, the students and especially the Marauders. She checked her watch after what seemed like only a couple of hours to her and her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as her watch sported the time: 11:48.  
  
"Hogwarts! Thanks for inviting us and all! We do hope to see you soon again! The upcoming song is our last one," groans filled the Hall, "and after, we'll be signing autographs in the library for an hour!" Cheers erupted, unlike the previous groans.  
  
Severus smiled at Lily as a slow and pleasant love song came up and reached out for her waist to bring her closer. Lily grinned back tentatively at his shyness and stepped closer to him. But just then, a familiar hand lay down on her shoulder. She sighed and looked up to meet James' brown eyes.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
He stared coldly at Snape before switching his look to her. "You owe me a dance, I presume, Lily Flower (Snape scowled at this 'sweetness') and I haven't found the chance all night to interrupt lovely, flirtatious rendezvous with Snapey-Poo here," James smiled fakely sweet, and Lily could almost hear the concealed anger and hate behind his words with her for dancing with Snape, being Snape's date to the Yule Ball, and over all, choosing the Slytherin above James.  
  
Annoyed and grateful at the same time, Lily looked to Severus, who'd assumed a poker-face, barely hiding his anger. "Sev, would it be all right if I dance with Pott- I mean, James?"  
  
James was put deeply into thought at her calling him, nearly if not fully, Potter. Only the Slytherins called him that, and they were his enemies. Never in his life did he think that his kiss hurt her enough to turn into one of his enemies.  
  
Lily glared at James and laughed inwardly at his lack of knowledge that he'd been the prime of their conversation awhile ago. "Ready, James?" she beckoned to him.  
  
He nodded and watched triumphantly as Snape stalked off, his usual daily scowl returning after three hours' absence. The music started up (I'll Be, by Edwin McCain). Lily stiffened as James' strong, lean arms encircled her tiny waist. Very hesitatingly, she put her arms around his neck. She couldn't reach, though, and stood on tiptoe, even though she was wearing 2 inch high heels. "Lily Flower," James began.  
  
"Potter," she responded bitterly.  
  
"Look, Lily, I'm really sorry about earlier this evening. I shouldn't've done that."  
  
Lily said formally, "Apology accepted," and concentrated on not answering him as much as possible.  
  
"Lily, please, I don't want to lose you as one of my friends. If I said the kiss meant nothing, could you forget about it?"  
  
Lily thought deeply and dared to say, with her eyes on the ground between them, willing her mind forcefully to concentrate on the music, but not succeeding. She sighed. "That's just it, James. Are you sure it meant . . . nothing?"  
  
(A/n: I'm trying to italicize the words, sorry if it comes out weird!)  
  
i What the hell is she implying? How to get out of this one?? /i  
  
James answered very quickly, "Of course. Is it imperative you interrogate my saneness?"  
  
She was disappointed and disheartened. "Yes, I mean, I apologize for prying."  
  
They danced the remainder of the song in silence. James was very surprised when she nearly sent him falling over when Lily pushed him away after the dance, both marveling at her strength and hostility.  
  
'iI need to sort out my thoughts. Too much. Too much, /i' Lily thought hurriedly as she ran outside. "My God, it's freezing out here!"  
  
A shadow covered the distant light from the castle. "What the-" Lily turned, gripping her wand. "Oh, Severus, it's you."  
  
Snape's eyes were unfocused. "Lillian Marie Evans, you are to comply to al my orders and follow me."  
  
He stuck out a hand for her to take. She put her hands in his and was surprised to see his grip was so strong.  
  
Lily giggled and said, "Hey, Sev, what's with the robot act? It's queer!"  
  
Snape ignored her and led Lily in the direction of the Forbidden Forest. i 'Why in the hell are we going there this time of night? What's with my full name?' /i Lily wondered, struggling to keep up with the much taller Snape.  
  
"Sev, are you sure that's where you want to go?"  
  
The Slytherin made no reply. Lily squirmed, but he held on tighter. He spotted her wand and took it, now; both her hands were in one of his hands, and her wand in the other.  
  
They entered the Forest about fifteen minutes later. "Severus," Lil whimpered. "Please! Let me go!" They came to a clearing, well into the forest. They stopped and he dropped her wand. Snape reached in his pocket and Lily nearly fainted as he brought out a sleek, sharp dagger.  
  
"No, Sev! Please, have mercy! Severus, please don't do it!" Lily begged.  
  
She screwed her eyes shut, thinking frantically, i'Oh, God. This is it, the end! I'm going to die this way! I'm going to die young! Please anyone help me! I'd take James; I need to tell him how I really feel before I die. . . Please, James, someone, come!'/i  
  
CRACK.  
  
James Potter was the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes. He looked around; unable to grasp his bearings for a moment, but quickly sprinted to her when he caught sight of Snape holding the knife. He brought out his wand.  
  
"Stupefy!" Snape slumped and Lily turned pale.  
  
"Th- thank y- you, Jay- James," she struggled to speak. James ran to her and pulled Snape off. He hugged Lily with all his might and asked concernedly, "Are you all right?"  
  
Her shoulders sagged horribly. "N-no."  
  
James pulled away from her and gasped. Torrents and torrents of blood came pouring out of Lily's pierced chest. Snape had managed to slice her. The knife's handle protruded from the middle of her chest, meaning all five inches of the knife was inside.  
  
"Oh, god! Lily, talk to me, dammit!"  
  
She opened her eyes, though it took a great deal of effort to do so. "Jays- so- sorry . . . for to- tonigh-"  
  
Lily felt blissfully aware that she was no longer in pain as she sank into unconsciousness. "Oh, God!" James put a healing charm on Lily, but dared not pull the dagger out in fear that she would bleed more. He picked her up, running fast through the winding trees, and a few minutes later, across the Great Hall, still filled with the Prefects and Head students, all the while blood spilling freely from Lily.  
  
"Madame Prinuella! Anyone, help, please!"  
  
The bustling nurse came out, muttering, "What is the problem- oh, dear! Quickly, put her on the bed! Now, now! No time to lose. After setting down Lily, the nurse sent James out, but he refused to go and watched as she tried to do her best.  
  
Madame Prinuella's POV  
  
As I examined the dagger that hurt the poor child, I was never so shocked. On it were three Potions. Obviously, all were made of Dark magic. One, to make the healing to the wounds take five times as long to heal. One more, to repel any magic aided to it. And the last one, to repel any potion given to heal the wound. Poor child.  
  
It tore my heart to see that the knife had penetrated her Aorta, one of the heart's main supply of blood.  
  
"Mr. Potter, what happened?"  
  
The boy looked up, his face a mask of grief and worry. "Snape stabbed her in the forest. I just sort of apparated there, and I Stunned Snape. He managed to stab her still, though."  
  
"You can't-"  
  
"Apparate on school grounds, I know. I just did, but please work on Lily for now," he insisted.  
  
I shook my head sadly. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do besides what I've done."  
  
He nearly exploded. "What!? Use spells, potions, anything! Why aren't you? You could lose her right now! She's losing a lot of blood, Madame Prinuella and she'd already lost a lot!"  
  
I replied slowly, not taking to heart his outburst, for I already knew what he'd just yelled, "Mr. Potter, in the blade of the dagger were three potions. One to repel healing magic. One to repel healing potions and the last one that makes the wound take five times longer than usual to heal. I've already alerted Prof. McGonagall to tell the Headmaster."  
  
Turning gravely to face the boy fully, I spoke softly, "She may not have long before she departs, Mr. Potter."  
  
He buried his face in his hands. Perhaps to keep the tears I'd caught starting to form in his eyes.  
  
"No. . .Please, not Lily. . . "  
  
Out of Madame Prinuella's POV  
  
It was safe to say James didn't take the news very well. His Adam's apple throbbed horribly against his throat, as unshed tears were washed away, his palms digging into his eyes made sure they didn't escape.  
  
The Hospital Wing door slammed open as the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress walked in quickly. "Dumbledore, it's serious. Whoever intended on hurting Miss Evans, for I prefer to keep Mr. Snape out of the question, lace the blade with three potions, all Dark of course, one that repels any magic, on that repels any healing potion, and one that will subject the wound to heal five time slower than its usual pace," the nurse said, presenting the dagger on a white cloth.  
  
Dumbledore sank into a nearby chair grimly. "What do you suggest we do, Catherine? What are her chances?"  
  
James would have laughed out loud right that moment if the situation hadn't been grave. Who'd thought the mother hen-like nurse Madame Prinuella was named Catherine, such a young, spirited name?  
  
"We have to do it the Muggle way. Emergency storeroom, I have the necessary equipment. As for her chances. . . she might not make it through the night. There's an eighty-twenty chance that she'll survive, and that's the latter."  
  
James' heart sank to the bottom of his stomach. He felt like he was going to be sick. i 'Not Lily, please, not her. I couldn't bear to lose her. . . she's a dear friend!'/i  
  
At the most inappropriate time came back his subconscious, or whatever the second little voice in his head was called. i 'That's just it, Potter. Are you sure she's nothing more than a friend?'/i  
  
James grew angry. i 'Bugger off, will you? Now's not the time-'/i  
  
i 'Oh, there's no more perfect time than this. Listen, Potter, hear me out before you completely shut off your mind to the only reasonable person, rather, voice, here!' /i  
  
i 'Fine, I will!' /i  
  
i Good, Potter. All you have to do is, apologize to her, as soon as possible. As soon as you get her alone with you. Oh, and add to that how you really feel for her, if you know what I mean. . . ' /i  
  
i 'That's stupid! She's bloody near a coma, for all I know she may be in one! She's eons and eons away, you sodding git! Besides, I'm damn sure of how I feel for my friends, thank you very much.'/i  
  
i Potter, Potter, Potter. Don't you ever take into consideration your wits? Of course a person in the deepest of comas can hear you! It's like they hear you, and think it a dream, proven true! Oh and about the last bit, are you sure?'/i  
  
i 'Of courser I'm sure! I'll do it, I'll bloody do it, happy? Just shut up!' /i  
  
i'Ecstatic. /i  
  
A thought occurred to him. "Professor Dumbledore, Muggle machines don't work at Hogwarts; there's too much magic in the air, and they go haywire. How. . .?"  
  
"I'm afraid, Mr. Potter, I'm two steps ahead of you. As you see there's no more magic in this room. Test it yourself," the Headmaster said.  
  
James warily took out his wand and waved, "Lumos!" Instead of the very bright light it gave off usually, in its place was the light that gave off an air that it was about to go off any second.  
  
"It's necessary for Miss Evan's sake you leave! Out, out, I need my space!" Madam Prinuella fussed, getting out the machines. James watched her connect their wires to sockets that appeared out of nowhere and took out gauzes, syringes, and other medical equipment before he walked away.  
  
*** Madam Prinuella emerged, two hours later, looking weary. "Come here, Potter," she addressed the solitary figure sitting on the waiting bench out in the hall next to the Hospital Wing.  
  
He looked feebly at Madam Prinuella. "Is it bad?"  
  
"Muggles have machines that help keep patients in critical condition alive. They're called life support, Potter, and currently, Miss Evans is hooked to one of the strongest types. Should she wake up, and the prospects for her are very bleak at the moment, she won't be able to talk. The ventilator, the tube connecting the life support to her is in her throat, blocking her voice," she said. (a/n: Uh! What a boring sentence, 'she said'!) "Go on now, Potter. And Dumbledore says you're to report to him in two hours."  
  
He stood up, bones protesting from the movement after being cramped for so long. "Oh, and Potter? If any of the alarms go off, call me at once, for Miss Evans' sake."  
  
James nodded and entered the deathly quiet room. He sank into the chair set up beside Lily's bed.  
  
i 'She looks so miserable. . .'/i  
  
He took in all the tubes connected to Lily's body, her pale, still form, her cold, almost black-blue lips, and the gauze on her chest, which was rising up and down so slowly, that at first glance, James assumed she wasn't breathing at all.  
  
"Lily- I know you probably can't hear me but it is important that I say this now, than not at all," James began.  
  
i 'God, I feel so stupid!'/i  
  
"Er, what I mean to say is, I know you were upset when you - er-asked me if the - er- kiss meant nothing. You see, Lily Flower, I didn't really want to say the truth. I'm not even sure if you'll wake up to hear it. The truth, I mean. I'm not daft. Not too much, at least. I know you think I kissed you only to make Snape jealous. But that's not true at all," James said softly, more to himself than to Lily.  
  
"I really wanted to kiss you, Lily Flower. Not just mainly because of that slimy prat but because, I think- I mean, I think that I- I like you," James finished hurriedly.  
  
Lily made a soft moaning noise and James froze.  
  
Had she heard what he'd said? He'd never live it down. Never. James watched her like a hawk, his breath caught in his throat.  
  
After a moment's pause, and James' heart plummeting to his stomach, and rising back up again, he sighed, relieved that she was just adjusting or something else.  
  
"Um, so where was I? Oh yeah. You know what, Lily Flower? I think I've liked you for awhile now. I just wasn't sure of it. I started to fully take in your beautiful face, your soft, lustrous hair, your luscious- damn!" James blushed hotly, though no one was listening.  
  
'Not good, Potter. You're BLUSHING!'  
  
"I mean, sorry, sorry, got a bit carried away there. But don't think I like you just because you're gorgeous, not that you aren't. I like that you are so generous, kind and beautiful inside out. I like that you put others before yourself. I like that even when you probably were making fun of me with Snape, I still don't want to lose you. I like that you aren't flirty, like those constantly fawning girls you secretly call, I quote, 'dogs who've pityingly lost all sense of their bearings'. I like that I can call you my best friend without having you gloat around school like you were a goddess. I like that when you are defending your opinion and I have different views, you don't simper up to me and give in. I like that though you are defiant during these circumstances, you're always sweet-tempered, blithe and humble. I like that I can picture your future name: Lillian Marie Potter. Hang on," James started, his face crimson once again, as he clamped a hand to his mouth. "I did not just say that! Anyway, Lily Flower, I'd best shut up and let you have your rest."  
  
James held her pale, cold, seemingly lifeless hand in his as he passed the time away before he had to report to Dumbledore. Her hand fit so perfectly in his.  
  
'She's beautiful. Truly beautiful.'  
  
*** "Potter, Dumbledore's office, straightaway," said the nurse, waking him up. James jerked awake and nodded, looking at Lily. He sighed. She appeared not to have a tiny improvement at all. He stood up and stretched, and after checking if Madam Prinuella wasn't looking, he leaned over her frail body, and kissed her forehead. And positively sped out of the Hospital Wing like a person who'd just seen a harmful predator. Which was exactly what James considered Lily to be.  
  
*** "Ah, Mr. Potter, I need to talk to you," Albus Dumbledore said, as he watched the panting boy take fresh gulps of air.  
  
"About what, exactly, Professor?"  
  
"Yesterday, I have reason to believe, she appeared to you, didn't she?"  
  
"Who exactly, sir?"  
  
"The daughter of the Merchief, Vanessa. And she came, on a mission, to discover Serena Edwards' heir?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"She found what she came looking for?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Who was the heir, Mr. Potter?"  
  
"Lily Evans, sir."  
  
"She gave you the book, right?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Kindly show me the book, Mr. Potter."  
  
"Now?"  
  
"Summon it."  
  
"I don't have my wand on me, Professor."  
  
"Mr. Potter," Dumbledore smiled, as if he found James name amusing to no end, "You're a Magid."  
  
The realization dawned upon James and he felt quite stupid. He managed an "Oh," before the thick leather book appeared in his hands.  
  
Dumbledore smiled appreciatively. "Good, good. May I?"  
  
"May you what, Professor?"  
  
"Open the book."  
  
"Um, sir, as I hope you know, the book can only be opened to Wiccans, and even then, once opened, only Wiccans' eyes are able to adjust to the text," James explained.  
  
He laughed. "But of course, Mr. Potter. What do you think I am?"  
  
"I'm not exactly sure, Professor, but, in my own honest opinion, I think you're just an ordinary Wizard?" It was more of a question than a statement.  
  
"I'm a Wiccan as well, James. Not a direct heir, as you are to Godric Gryffindor and Miss Evans is to Rowena Ravenclaw. But a descendant all the same, of Godric Gryffindor, too."  
  
"Is that why when I was younger, you kept contact with my father?"  
  
"Yes, and with the other descendants as well."  
  
James was incredulous. "You mean to say there are more Wiccans?"  
  
Dumbledore nodded, eyes twinkling. "Certainly you didn't think you were alone, did you, Mr. Potter?"  
  
James didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "If Lily Flow- I mean, if Lily's a direct heir of Rowena Ravenclaw, why was she Sorted into Gryffindor?"  
  
"Mr. Potter, tell me, if two parents are Sorted into Slytherin and when it is their child's turn to be Sorted, and the child is very intelligent, witty, clever, what House would you suggest to put the child in?"  
  
"Ravenclaw."  
  
"Precisely my point, Mr. Potter. Just because one's parents are very intellectual, doesn't necessarily mean that one should be that intellectual. Miss Evans is smart, but has a more courageous heart, hence she was Sorted into Gryffindor."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Back to the matter at hand, Mr. Potter. Let me open the book for you and I will set it to Gryffindor's Prophecy pages, and I will ask you to read something."  
  
Dumbledore took out his wand, and muttered, "Fourum Dissendium!"  
  
James heard the same thing, and pretty soon, Dumbledore was pushing the massive tome to him. "Read this prophecy, James."  
  
He squinted, the writing was so small and spidery.  
  
The Dark Lord rises, spreading the loom of terror across far lands Disaster, calamity, 'tis all but terrible in fate But hark! Sharply look and see the faint light that seeps across the great divide New hope, new life, we seek, and we found It tells of two powerful Wiccans: One of courage, indestructible, unwavering The other of knowledge, cleverness, wit Together, they form the hope of all witches and wizards alike Emerald eyes dawn upon their babe Remarkably alike his fiery crowned mother Head unruly adorned with a mess of charcoal, dark as the darkest of nights But never will our savior be opportune enough to ... James stopped, as the rest of the page was blank. "Professor Dumbledore, it stops here."  
  
The older man sighed gravely. "Yes, yes, I was aware. Unfortunately, someone had inflicted the Killing Curse on the Seer before he had a chance to complete it. Do you see, James, the pattern of this Prophecy to that of which Miss Evans read aloud yesterday?"  
  
James nodded, brow furrowing when Dumbledore first called him by his birth- given name. "I think that they both speak of two Wiccans, of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw and together, they would defeat the upcoming Dark force."  
  
"Not quite accurate, Mr. Potter. I quote, 'They FORM the hope of all witches an wizards alike'. Together, you and Miss Evans will bring to the world the downfall of Lord Voldemort," Dumbledore said wisely.  
  
James fought the blush creeping to his cheeks at what Dumbledore was hinting. "What are you implying, sir?" He asked still, anyway.  
  
Dumbledore chuckled. "Exactly what you think I'm implying."  
  
James' face heated up more. Oddly enough, that seemed to egg on Dumbledore.  
  
"Actually, Mr. Potter, I think that if I'd tell Miss Evans what I've just told you now, the both of you will know what I'm implying. You have admitted some feelings, I have reason to assume, of some certain feelings of yours for her that might and will (James, who'd steadily been growing redder and redder, looked ready to blush at his bursting point) lead to my implementations."  
  
It was a rather awkward situation, really, one knows not to expect every day to occur. James was in the Headmaster's office, in his tattered dress robes, at three a.m. talking about his feelings for a girl whom he'd just saved and was currently lying in the Hospital Wing, hovering on the edge between going into a coma.  
  
"Professor, is that all?" James asked, fighting the very strong urge to yawn widely.  
  
Dumbledore gave another little laugh that would usually assure James but at this situation, James was far from assured. "Yes, yes, I'm sorry James for keeping you in at such hours. Now, go straight back up to your Tower."  
  
The messy black-haired boy wandered listlessly through the halls of Hogwarts contemplating what had happened in the past forty-eight hours.  
  
First, he'd learned that a fellow direct Wiccan was actually his friend.  
  
And that friend had been kissed by him during the ball, and the reason for that was that he wanted to make Severus envious, and succeeded, but lost too, since that friend was angry.  
  
And then, THAT friend had been stabbed by the same person she brought with to the Ball.  
  
Really', James thought, 'It's a rather small world with bizarre happenings. But then again, this is Hogwarts, and this is just your examples of normal events.'  
  
The Fat Lady was snoozing in her velvet armchair, a bottle of Odgen's Firewhisky at her legs, half-empty.  
  
"Ahem," he said.  
  
She was jostled awake and looked around blearily, trying to regain her bearings, rubbing her sleep-filled eyes tiredly. She squinted at James and asked, "Pathword?"  
  
James nearly fell over laughing at the sight of the Far Lady drunk, when she herself hadn't wasted the moments of opportune to scold him and the Marauders for going out at night to have a drinking binge. "Leonhart".  
  
The Common Room was empty, James noted, then chided himself for being stupid. Who'd be awake at this time of night, er morning? He trudged to his dorm and sighed. Sirius was still in his dress robes, spread-eagled across his bed. Very heavy snoring came from Peter's bed, where his bed curtains were drawn shut. James could distinctly make out Remus and Frank's silhouettes against the pale light of the half-moon.  
  
'Damn, I'm bloody worn out,' James thought as he undressed. No sooner had his head hit the pillow, he vividly dream a horrific nightmare.  
  
It was a restaurant. Probably the new one that opened in the rebuilding of Hogsmeade. And in the restaurant was a table.  
  
There was a table. A table, finely set for two. Also, there was a white lily in the center, in an elongated vase.  
  
His attention was centered on the door of the restaurant, and could make out the boy's identity. It was himself, about a year older, shyly pulling a girl. The girl had tumbling unique red hair. And lustrous green eyes. It was Lily Evans, and she looked a bit older too.  
  
But she appeared as she always did- beautiful with her pale complexion but a little taller, her hair was longer, and James' eyes traveled down to her chest. He noticed that her developments didn't lack in that part, either.  
  
James watched as his older self led her nervously to the table. After a while, a very stiff and formal looking waiter came out and took their orders. They started talking as soon as the maitre'd left.  
  
He leaned in to hear their conversation, but to his disappointment, everything went mute as soon as he moved. He contented himself by just watching the pretty redhead eat and talk. James sighed longingly when the pair smiled at each other. Lily nodded, forked a piece of her cake and moved towards the older James, who looked positively- younger James couldn't read his expression. Lily opened his mouth with her gentle fingers and slid the fork in.  
  
Normally, both James' would have gagged at the prospect of this act of sweetness, affection and love, but he was surprised to see his dream self chew happily and snicker with Lily unceremoniously as his nose was smooshed with icing and chocolate. They both held hands across the table.  
  
James looked around and sure enough, he spotted other couples from Hogwarts chatting with their respective sweethearts, their words of love muted to James. "Yeah," he spoke out loud, this must be Hogsmeade. Le Meringue, I think."  
  
Suddenly, the restaurant's pacific atmosphere was destroyed when the shiny mahogany door blasted into undistinguishable splinters and in walked every witch and wizard on the Light side of the war's fear, Death Eaters.  
  
"STUPEFY!" They roared simultaneously, and repeated this over and over, until everyone, save Lily and the older James, went unconscious on the floor or keeled over in their seats. Lily whipped out her wand and the dream James had his own out as well.  
  
He felt a tug at his navel and suddenly, he was no longer his fifteen year old self but the older James. And as if someone had pressed a button, everything was painfully loud to James after being "deaf" for a while.  
  
He watched fearfully, frozen on the spot, as one of the Death Eaters stepped forward and blared out, "Crucio!"  
  
Lily braced her body for the surely intense pain the Unforgiveable would bring. What she didn't know was that during the process of the Death Eater taking his time to savor their fear, James had jumped in front of Lily, shielding her, and took the full brunt of the curse.  
  
He fell to the floor, the crash breaking the silence of the quieted restaurant. Before the world could fully right itself, he felt pain. Worse than the worst torture he'd ever received in his life. James writhed as he curled up in a very tight fetal position. A thousand little knives penetrated his clammy skin. His ligaments and muscles were being torn brutally apart. His head felt like cracking open. Every part of him ached, every part of him hurt. Hot white pain seared across James' body. He couldn't feel his limbs anymore. James tried curling up tighter, anything to block the pain, a mantra in his brain stubbornly repeating, "It's just pain, it's just pain". James had been under the curse for a little while only when his skin began to break. Little pinprick needles suddenly appeared all over his body and his blood made small rivers down his body. Not once during the whole time he was in pain did James scream, cry, or let the tiniest or softest of whimpers out. HE distantly heard Lily crying his name helplessly over and over again, pleading with the Death Eaters holding her to let her go, and to stop it. James bit down on his tongue hard and it started bleeding as well.  
  
It's just pain, it's just pain, it's just pain  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, the cackling Death Eaters lifted the curse. By this time, James lay on the floor, still, unmoving, no longer willing to take in oxygen.  
  
The taunting face of the Death Eater loomed into view, sneering, "Not so valiant, chivalrous, nor brave now are you, Potter?"  
  
Lily pulled free from the Death Eater's hold and ran over to where James lay. She hugged him close to her, crying silently.  
  
James tried to cup her face with his hand, and made it halfway before it collapsed to his side. "Li- Lily Flo- Flower. . . I lo-love you. . ."  
  
The last thing James saw before his eyes closed and he woke up (a/n: does that make sense to you???) was her face, full of love, concern and tears for him. . .  
  
"Lily!" James shot of his bed, sweaty all over and pulled out his Invisibility Cloak. He ran to the Hospital Wing and, his heart still pounding heavily against his ribs, opened the door. He sank into the chair beside the redheaded girl and with one last look at Lily, he slowly fell asleep.  
  
But this time, he wasn't plagued by nightmares. After all, he had Lily beside him and hat meant everything was all right. Everything was going to be all right. 


End file.
